The press conference comes amid a tug-of-war between the government and the judiciary over how to appoint judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court.
FOR the first time ever in India, four senior judges of the Supreme court addressed the media at the residence of J Chelameswar. The other three judges who accompanied him are: Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joesph.
During the press conference, the judges released a letter they had written to Chief Justice Misra a couple of months ago.
The press conference comes amid a tug-of-war between the government and the judiciary over how to appoint judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court.
Top government sources say this is an internal issue of the judiciary and relates to administration of justice. Why should the government get involved in their dispute?
8 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM JUSTICE CHELAMESWAR’S MEDIA ADDRESS:
1. This is an extraordinary in the history of the nation. It is an extraordinary event in the history of the Constitution.
2. Hallmark of good democracy is an independent judiciary, without it democracy won’t survive.
3. The administration of the Supreme Court is not in order and many things less than desirable has happened in the past few months.
4. We are left with no choice but talk to the nation directly.
5. Things less than desirable has happened in the Supreme Court. We tried to collectively persuade the CJI so that he takes remedial measures but our efforts have failed. Four of us are convinced that for the survival of democracy, an impartial judge and judiciary is needed.
6. We met the CJI today morning also, but we failed to convince the CJI.
7. We have seen a lot of wise men but we don’t want wise men to tell us later after 20 years that the four of us have sold our souls. We construe this as a responsibility to the nation and we have done it.
8. We are no one to impeach (when asked if CJI Dipak Misra should be impeached).