Chief Justice Dipak Misra and the four top Supreme Court judges who revolted on Friday may meet on Sunday to resolve the problems highlighted by them, reported news agency IANS.
Three of the four judges, who had attacked the Chief Justice at a press conference in the national capital on Friday, were away from the capital and are expected to return on Sunday afternoon. However, there’s no confirmation on whether CJI Misra will indeed be meeting with the rebel judges.
CJI Misra on Saturday snubbed the principal secretary of the prime minister, Nripendra Misra, after the latter arrived at his house at 5 Krishna Menon Marg in Delhi. The video of Nripendra Misra making a U-turn from CJI Misra’s residence had gone viral.
What gave indications for a truce were the comments made by Justices Kurian Joseph and Ranjan Gogoi and Attorney General KK Venugopal, the government’s highest law officer.
Justice Joseph said in Kochi that there was no constitutional crisis in the top court and the issues they had raised appeared to have been sorted out.
“We did this for a cause and I think (the) issues appear to have been sorted out. This was not against anyone nor are we having anything personal. It was meant to see that more transparency is there,” Justice Joseph was quoted by IANS.
Justice Gogoi, who was in Kolkata, too ruled out any crisis affecting the top court.
He was quoted as saying, “There is no crisis,” while refusing to make any further comments.
Meanwhile, AG Venugopal said, “Unity among Supreme Court judges will return by Monday. We hope the entire issue will be settled in the larger interest of the institution. Judges are persons of wisdom and statesmanship and experience. We hope they won’t allow the issue to escalate.”
Earlier, the Bar Council of India (BCI) said that it had formed a seven-member delegation which will attempt to bridge the apparent rift between four senior Supreme Court judges and CJI Misra.
“We have unanimously decided to form a 7-member delegation of the Council who will meet honourable judges of the Supreme Court. We want that the matter be solved at the earliest,” BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra was quoted by Times of India.
Four top Supreme Court judges on Friday had taken an extraordinary step when they decided to speak to media against the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra calling the administration in the top court ‘not in order.
Leading the rebellion was the second most senior senior judge, Justice Chelameswar, who said that ‘in the past few months, less than desirable things have been happening.’
He said, “We’ve told the Chief Justice but our pleas have failed. We don’t want people to say 20 yrs later that we did not take care of the institution. Democracy won’t survive without free judiciary.”