The Supreme Court today lashed out at a lawyers' body while hearing a plea of an advocate alleging "manipulation" by its Registry in the listing of a case and said the "Bar has never stood up for the Bench."
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul expressed anguish that everyone pointed fingers towards it but the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has never stood with them.
"What he had done is just too much. He was not there in the case. He came for the mentioning at the last minute. He charged a fee for making those insinuations and you stand for him. Everybody abuses us and none of you ever stand up for us...NEVER, in capital letters," the bench said.
"This attitude has emerged that you people can shout at us for anything. We are going to stop it. We won't let you go. This is motivated and planned, to point an accusing finger at us," it added.
Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the lawyer who had made the allegations against the apex court Registry, said he was tendering an unconditional apology and withdrawing all statements made by him in the case.
The bench, however, refused to concede and reserved its order in the case.
Advocate Mohit Chaudhary on April 7 had mentioned the matter before a bench headed by the CJI and alleged that it was directed to be listed on that day itself but in a "manipulated way", it was listed before a special bench.
The lawyer had on April 7 told the bench that the matter was to be listed before a regular bench but the registry had listed it before a special bench for which there was no need.
Chaudhary was appearing for a firm in a slum redevelopment case and his matter was listed on April 7 before a special bench of Justices Arun Mishra and S Abdul Nazeer.
The matter was listed on April 6 for regular hearing but later put in the supplementary list before the special bench headed by Justice Mishra as there was judicial order of March 31 to list the matter before the bench which had heard it.
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