Senior Congress leader and former Law Minister Kapil Sibal said today that lowering the seniority of Justice K M Joseph during his elevation to the Supreme Court will be marked as a "black day" in the court's history and the judiciary needs to do some soul searching.
He also hit out at the government accusing it of arrogance.
"Justice K M Joseph's downgrade in his elevation to the Supreme Court today will be marked as a black day in the history of the Court.
"Smacks of arrogance of Government and capitulation by Court. The Judiciary needs to do some soul searching," he said on Twitter.
Justice K M Joseph took oath as the judge of the Supreme Court today along with Justices Indira Banerjee and Vineet Saran amid a row with the Centre over his seniority being lowered on his elevation.
His elevation put an end to a protracted stand-off between the Centre and the judiciary, but the former's decision to lower his seniority despite his name being first recommended months before the other two judges created a fresh row.
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Judges including members of the collegium comprising Justices M B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri met Chief Justice Dipak Misra yesterday to raise their concerns on the seniority issue regarding Justice K M Joseph.
The judges were reported to be of the view that there was a need to sit together and ponder over the issue.