Restore order

The ball is in the chief justice's court

Four senior-most Supreme Court judges went public on Friday with an extraordinary warning that the chief justice of India was mishandling sensitive cases and endangering the court’s integrity. The unprecedented message to the public was that they did not want to “sell their souls”, and that unless this institution was preserved, democracy could not be protected in this country. The four judges, who, along with the chief justice, make the current Supreme Court Collegium (the key decision-making body that recommends appointments and transfers in the higher judiciary), also alleged that the chief justice repeatedly intervened to ensure only judges of