Vikas Singh, also president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, rebutted Prashant Bhushan’s request seeking an in-house probe into the CJI’s actions.
New Delhi: A day after an in-house probe was sought against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, the Medical Council of India’s lawyer Wednesday wrote a letter in defence of the CJI to the senior judges who have raised their voices in protest against his decisions.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh wrote a letter addressed to five senior-most judges after the CJI – the four judges who have questioned his conduct and Justice A.K. Sikri – rebutting the investigation request from the Centre for Judicial Accountability and Reform (CJAR).
Singh, also the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association which had condemned CJAR’s plea, said “the conversation between the middlemen cannot in any manner attribute wrongdoing on the part of the judges hearing the matter”. Copies of the letter were marked to other Supreme Court judges and the CJI himself. (See here and here)
Singh cited five cases in which the CJI had passed similar orders and said that “he would be failing in his duty” if he did not point out the “factual inaccuracies in the complaint”
CJAR, a non-profit led by advocate Prashant Bhushan, had written to the same five justices — J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph, and Sikri — to initiate a probe against the CJI.
Pressure is said to be mounting on the CJI to address the complaint. Sources told ThePrint that the four protesting judges have also discussed the complaint, and are likely to bring it up with the CJI. The judges are likely to meet as usual for tea before court Thursday.
Bhushan had cited a transcript of telephonic conversations between individuals arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on alleged attempts to bribe judges of the apex court. The accused are connected to a medical college whose case was being heard by the CJI.
The in-house procedure does not deal with complaints against the CJI specifically, as he is the authority to deal with all complaints. For junior judges, the CJI has to bring the complaint to the notice of the President of India, as per the 1991 Justice Veeraswami case.
CJAR had moved the court in November last year seeking an independent judicial probe on the same issue, but it was rejected by the court.