Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Friday said that the “new trend” of the government maligning judges was unfortunate, Live Law reported.

He made the remark while hearing two petitions challenging an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court that had quashed the first information report in an alleged corruption case. The case was filed against Aman Singh, principal secretary to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

On January 10, the High Court quashed the first information report, saying that all the allegations against the former principal secretary were based on probabilities, The Indian Express reported.

The Chhattisgarh government and an activist, Uchit Sharma, had filed appeals in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision.

During the hearing on Friday, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, representing one of the petitioners, said that the writ petition before the High Court was filed at the stage of a preliminary inquiry, according to Live Law.

However, Chief Justice Ramana remarked, “Whatever fights you may take, that’s alright. But don’t try to malign the courts. I’m watching in the courts also, it’s a new trend.”

He added that earlier, private persons adopted such tactics and now, the government was doing so.

The judge made the remarks while going through the appeals. It was not clear what exactly led him to make the statements.

Rakesh Dwiwedi, representing the Chhattisgarh government, said that the government was not seeking to malign anyone in the matter.

“No, we are watching every day,” Chief Justice Ramana said. “You are a senior counsel, you’ve seen this more than us. It’s a new trend, the Government started maligning the Judges, it’s unfortunate.”

In response, Dwiwedi said that no one could support such a trend “for even one minute”.