Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju has slammed the Chief Justice of India, Justice TS Thakur, for being ‘touchy’ over losing temper while revoking the parole granted to the industrialist Subrata Roy.
In a Facebook post, Justice Katju said, “(Lawyer Rajeev) Dhawan had not abused the judges of the Supreme Court, and yet Justice Thakur lost his temper and cancelled the bail which he had granted a few moments earlier to Subroto Roy, the Sahara chief, and behind Dhawan’s back made some adverse remarks against him.”
Justice Katju took to Twitter to ask if judges ought to be so ‘touchy’ adding that it was proper to make the client suffer because of something said by the lawyer.
He said, “Was this proper on the part of a CJI? Should judges be so touchy ? And why should a client suffer even assuming his lawyer said something unpalatable to the judge ? The even more shocking thing is that none of the senior SC lawyers came to Dhawan’s defence in the matter.”
Obviously they remained mum coz they do not want to displease judges, as they want favourable orders. That is why I call them 'Lawstitutes' pic.twitter.com/8bRdzftdEu
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) October 3, 2016
Questioning the silence of Supreme Court lawyers and their refusal to side with Dhawan, Justice Katju said, “Obviously they remained mum coz they do not want to displease judges, as they want favourable orders. That is why I call them ‘Lawstitutes’ (sic)”
The Supreme Court on 23 September had cancelled all interim relief including bail granted to Sahara chief Subrata Roy and two others and directed them to be taken into custody.
A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur got infuriated when senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Sahara, said they have not been involved in the process of selling of properties by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
“If you want to be heard, you go to jail. Don’t tell us what to do. All interim arrangements stand cancelled.
Condemners are directed to be taken into custody,” the bench, also comprising Justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, said.