Controversies over the years

Friday’s "extraordinary event in the history of judiciary" when four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court revolted against their Chief Justice Dipak Misra has jolted the nation. Though Friday’s development is unprecedented in the history of Indian judiciary, unpleasant incidents concerning it is not new.

Several controversies involving sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, including internal squabbles, have taken place in the past which indicate that all is not well within the judicial system.

These are some of the other controversies which have beset the Indian judiciary. INTERNAL DISPUTE

The internal fight among the judges came to the fore in November last year when, in an unprecedented incident, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court junked an order passed by Justice Chelameswar.

Justice Chelameswar had referred a Medical Council of India (MCI) scam to a constitution bench of the top court. He had claimed that bribes were allegedly taken by using the names of the Supreme Court judges.

Justice J Chelameswar had heard the matter despite orders from the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. ARRESTS

The arrest of Justice CS Karnan of Calcutta High Court following a spate of ugly developments is still fresh in everyone’s memory. The Supreme Court on May 9, 2017 found Justice CS Karnan of Calcutta High Court guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to six months in jail. Justice Karnan became the first sitting High Court judge to be awarded imprisonment for six months by the Supreme Court. He was arrested on June 20 after he retired on June 12. He has since been released after serving his jail term.

Earlier, the apex court had ordered Justice Karnan’s mental check up.

However, Justice Karnan refused to undergo the test. On his part, Justice Karnan sentenced the then chief justice of India Justice JS Khehar and seven other judges of the Surpeme Court to seven years of imprisonment.

Former Orissa High Court judge Ishrat Masroor Quddusi was another one to be arrested and jailed. A plea by Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms sought the setting up of an SIT to probe the role of Justice Quddusi in enabling private medical colleges to admit students to MBBS courses against the Supreme Court’s directive barring the institutes from doing so.

Quddusi, an Orissa High Court judge between 2004 and 2010, was accused by the CBI of legally guiding the private medical colleges and assuring them of favourable settlement of their cases in the Supreme Court. The judge was arrested and jailed in September. IMPEACHMENT PROCESs

Though no judge has ever been impeached, impeachment processes were initiated against at least four of them. Justices Soumitra Sen, PD Dinakaran, JB Pardiwala, V Ramaswami and Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy escaped impeachment.

Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court in 2011 would have become the first judge to be impeached by Parliament. However, he tendered his resignation after the Rajya Sabha passed the motion making him the first judge to have been impeached by the Upper House for misconduct.

In a 1983 matter, Justice Sen was found guilty of misappropriating Rs 33.23 lakh as a court-appointed receiver in his capacity as a lawyer. He was also held guilty of misrepresenting facts before a Calcutta court.

Former Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court PD Dinakaran resigned in July 2011 before impeachment proceedings could be initiated against him. The Rajya Sabha had set up a judicial panel to look into allegations of corruption against him. CONTEMPT PROCEEDING

For the first time in the Indian judicial history, the Supreme Court had issued suo motu contempt notice to its former judge Justice Markandey Katju for his disparaging remarks on judges in connection with the Soumya rape case.

Justice Katju was a Supreme Court judge between 2006 and 2011.

He wrote in his blog, "Justice Gogoi, who is in line to become the Chief Justice of India on the basis of seniority, has shown that he does not know an elementary principle of law, namely that hearsay evidence is not admissible."

The Supreme Court took cognisance of Justice Katju's comment and called him for an audience. Bitter arguments took place between Justice Katju and the sitting judge.

In November 2016, the Supreme Court bench of justices Gogoi, Prafulla C Pant and Uday Umesh Lalit issued contempt notice to him.

The contempt proceedings against Justice Katju were dropped after he offered unconditional apology to Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Friday’s open revolt by four Supreme Court judges against the Chief Justice of India Justice alleging that the “administration of the Supreme Court was not in order” is a new low in the Indian judiciary.