Rebel judge refuses to hear plea against CJI
Justice Jasti Chelameswar, the second senior most judge and one of the four judges who questioned the way the cases are listed in the Apex Court, on Thursday refused to hear a PIL filed by former Union law minister Shanti Bhushan seeking to curtail the role of the Chief Justice of India in allotting the Benches.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan wanted the judge to take up his father's PIL since the court's registry was not accepting the petition he has filed on behalf of his father.
The judge's refusal prompted him to rush to the Bench of the CJI and mention the matter for listing expeditiously. The Bench dismissed him saying "we will look into it." He had written to the court's secretary general not to list the PIL in the CJI's court, nor put it up before the CJI since he was named in it as a party.
“For reasons too obvious, I will not deal with this case,” said Justice Chelameswar, noting that "I do not want another reversal of my order in 24 hours and also because I am going to retire in a few days and cannot dispose of your PIL." He was referring to his order on November 9 that called for setting up a Constitution bench to hear a case in which judges are accused of taking bribes from an educational trust. His order was reversed the very next day by a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
Chelameswar’s comments once again brought to fore the infighting among the judges of the Supreme Court. He and Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Bhimrao Lokur and Kurian Joseph had held an unprecedented press conference to air their differences on the way the CJI was constituting the Benches and yet he refused to hear the PIL in deference to the four judges' wish. Revealing that he had written a letter a few days ago to highlight affairs in the Supreme Court, Justice Chelameswar lamented that "someone is carrying out a tirade against me that I am waiting to grab some office."
"For reasons too obvious in the history of the country, I will not deal with this case. It is the problem of the county. Let the country take its own course," he added. Justice Chelameswar and Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is to be the next CJI by virtue of seniority, were among the four judges to revolt against CJI Misra, but they are sitting with him on the collegium to clear names for appointments in various High Courts. Last Friday, the collegium recommended appointment of 12 judges -7 in Guwahati High Court and 5 in J&K High Court.