ME News Bureau: The unprecedented rift within the judges of the Supreme Court has earned the stiff disapproval of the Bar Council, the regulatory body for lawyers, which says it wants the matter to be resolved internally. The press conference called yesterday by four of the Supreme Court's most senior judges to criticize the Chief Justice of India has "shaken up the system", said its office bearers.
After a meeting this evening to decide the way forward, one of the key office bearers of the council said they have decided to apprise judges of sentiment of bar and resolve the matter "peacefully and quickly".
The council has formed a seven-member team which would initially meet the other judges of the Supreme Court. At least half of the judges have agreed to a discussion, said Mr Mishra. The team, he said, will follow it up with meetings with the four dissenting judges and finally the Chief Justice of India. The round of meetings will start from tomorrow.
Yesterday, four judges of the top court had met the media at the house of Justice J Chelameswar. Things were "not in order", they said, with what they described as "the administration of the Supreme Court" and expressed concerns about the assignment of sensitive cases, which is done by the Chief Justice of India. Asked if they believed the Chief Justice should be impeached, they said, "Let the nation decide".
The Supreme Court Bar Association, a representative body of Supreme Court lawyers, also held a meeting this evening, during which they adopted two resolutions, one of which was to "restore the credibility" of the Supreme Court. For this, "a system must be developed to ensure PIL doesn't go beyond the first 5 courts," said Vikas Singh, the president of the Bar Association.
Agreeing with the Bar Council that should be resolved internally, the association said the Chief Justice of India "should call a full court meeting of all judges and solve this issue".
