Ex-CJI Dipak Misra was working under influence of an "external source": Justice (retd) Kurian Joseph

Days after he retired, Justice Kurian Joseph, one of the four Supreme Court judges who held an unprecedented press conference in January, on Monday made a sensational claim that the previous CJI Dipak Misra was working under some influence of an "external source", adding this impacted the administration of justice.

Justice Joseph along with three of the most senior judges of the apex court--Justices J Chelameswar, who has since retired, Ranjan Gogoi, who is the current Chief Justice, and Madan Lokur--staged an open revolt against justice Misra by convening the press conference on January 12 to flag their concerns about preferential allocation of sensitive cases to judges low down on the top court's hierarchy.

"The then CJI was working under some influence of some external source. He was remote-controlled by an external source. There was some influence of some external source that was impacting the administration of justice," justice Joseph told PTI. Joseph retired on November 29.

Asked about the basis on which he was making his claim, Justice Joseph said this was the perception among the judges, who went public over issues dogging the apex court, as well as among other judges of the court.

He refused to elaborate on who the external source was and the cases where there was a bias and administration of justice affected.

Pressed again on whether the alleged influence was exerted by some political party or the government in any particular case, justice Joseph said the judges were only of the view that there was some bias by the judge concerned.

He said there was no need to make a reference to any particular case.

"I am sorry. I don't want to take it any forward," he said.

The retired judge, however, said the presser had an impact and things started changing for good during the remaining part of justice Misra's tenure as CJI and is now continuing under the stewardship of the justice Gogoi. Misra retired on October 2.

He said there was an improvement in the quality of the functioning of the court and the perception about the independence of the institution.

"All issues and changes the four senior judges were thinking at the January 12 press conference were started by CJI Misra and since it is the continuous process, the present CJI Ranjan Gogoi is taking it forward."