There is no need for outside intervention to mediate Supreme Court rift, says Justice Kurian Joseph
The senior judge said the matter was not brought to the president’s attention because he has no constitutional authority over the judiciary.
Justice Kurian Joseph, one of the four Supreme Court judges who had openly protested against maladministration within the apex court and Chief Justice Dipak Misra, on Saturday said there was no need for outside intervention to resolve the matter, PTI reported.
On Friday, justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, the four most senior judges in the country after Misra, had levelled allegations against the chief justice that he had bypassed established traditions in court to assign cases to benches.
“There is no need for outside intervention to solve the matter because it is a matter that occurred within an institution,” PTI quoted Joseph as saying. “Necessary steps would be taken by the institution itself to sort it out.”
Joseph said there had been no constitutional lapse on part of the chief justice but convention, practice and procedure must be followed while carrying out responsibilities. “We just brought that matter to his attention. An issue was raised. Those concerned have listened to it. Such actions would not occur in future. So [I] believe that the issue has been settled,” Joseph said at an event near Kochi in Kerala.
He also said that the matter was not brought to the attention of the president of India because he has no constitutional authority over the judiciary.
When asked about the way forward to resolve the crisis, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who was also among the four judges, told PTI, “There is no crisis.”
The Bar Council of India on Saturday had said that it had unanimously decided to form a seven-member delegation which will meet the judges of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Bar Association President Vikas Singh urged the full court to look into the concerns the judges had raised. Singh had also said that the justices’ complaints were not substantial,