Former chief justice Altamas Kabir has rejected allegations that he had scuttled Gujarat High Court justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya's elevation to the Supreme Court and that he had tried to push the candidature of another High Court judge before his term was to end. He dismissed a charge that he had acted against Justice Bhattacharya as the latter had opposed the elevation of his sister as Calcutta High Court judge. In a press statement, Justice Kabir, who demitted office on July 18, also denied another charge that he favoured Sahara group in its battle against Sebi on refunding Rs 24,000 crore to investors.
Breaking his silence on the controversy, he accused Bhattacharya of making "insensitive" references about his sister. He told the Gujarat HC chief justice that he should know that the collegium of judges have their procedure for choosing a judge and that he had recused from meetings held to decide on his sister. "As a former member of the collegium in the Calcutta High Court and as a chief justice of the state of Gujarat, you are fully aware how the collegium functions and how decisions are taken by the collegium. "The views of one of the members of the collegium, not even that of the chief justice, has any impact on the ultimate decision that is taken. In your case, the matter was before a collegium consisting of five judges, who took a unanimous decision. The decision was a collective decision and not that of an individual, as you seem to impute," he said.
Justice Kabir also release a copy of a letter he had written on Monday to justice Bhattacharya on the issue. He took strong objection to media reports which alleged that he wanted to elevate a judge of a high court to the Supreme Court for which a meeting of collegium was conveyed on July 2, just a fortnight before his retirement. Instead, the meeting of collegium was convened on the suggestion of its members including the present chief justice P Sathasivam. "The suggestion to hold the meeting on July 2 did not
emanate from me, but from the members of the collegium themselves, including the present CJI," he said in the press release.
On justice Bhattacharya's March 19 letter, Kabir said he preferred not to respond at that time thinking that it was "written in a fit of anger" but since it has appeared in the press "I think it is time to respond to the same". Kabir said the decision granting Sahara group more time to refund the money was "the joint decision of the bench upon consultation" and it was given "in the interest of the depositors". "The attempts of some people including some of the advocates who claimed to have appeared in the matter, to assign an ill-motive in granting such extension, again discloses the mindset of journalists who based their article on innuendos in order to make out a 'story' to bolster their reputation as investigative journalists," he said.
