Delhi bar bodies term SC judges' presser as unfortunate

A coordination committee of the Delhi district court bar associations today termed as "unfortunate" the presser by four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court and said it would take to the streets if the crisis was not resolved within 10 days.

The committee of lawyers from six district courts in the national capital passed a resolution at a meeting and said that an internal mechanism should be developed to settle such disputes in the judiciary and a judicial accountability bill should be brought in Parliament to prevent such incidents.

"We, hereby, resolve that the chief justice of India should have kept his house in order and the grievances of the four seniormost judges should have been addressed by the CJI immediately.
 

"We also condemn the act of the four seniormost Supreme Court judges. They shouldn't have brought an internal matter into the public domain. They should have adopted other good and healthy options like approaching the Supreme Court Bar Association or senior advocates of Supreme Court or the President of India," the committee's chairman Mahavir Sharma told a press conference.

The committee said it would hold discussions with bar associations across the country on the issue and threatened to take to the streets if the crisis was not resolved in 10 days.

"The people of India have great faith in the sacred institution and the faith should not be even touched by any act of anyone and judicial discipline should have been maintained at any cost. The press conference was very unfortunate.

"We, hereby, request the chief justice of India and all other judges of the Supreme Court to put their house in order. We believe that this incident occurred in the absence of any legal mechanism to resolve such types of disputes," the committee's spokesperson Neeraj said.

He said that the panel was not concerned with any political party or politician and called for non-interference in the judiciary.

New Delhi District Bar Association president Santosh Mishra, however, termed the presser by the top court judges as "politically motivated"

"CPI leader D Raja meeting one of the four judges suggests that the press conference was politically motivated...The CJI should have taken care of it much earlier and within the Supreme Court itself," she said.