New Delhi: The four ‘rebel judges’, J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph, met Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Thursday morning over a cup of tea and submitted a ‘proposal on roster’ to resolve the issues raised by them at the press conference on January 12.
Highly placed sources told this newspaper that besides the CJI, four other judges, A.K. Sikri, N.V. Ramana, Uday Lalit and D.Y. Chandrachud, also participated in the “conciliatory talks” which lasted for about 30 minutes.
Asked whether any settlement was arrived at sources said “no”.
They said the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere but the impasse still continues as no major break through could be achieved. The CJI has agreed to consider their proposal and meet them again next week.
On Thursday morning counsel for petitioner made a mention before the CJI bench seeking to restrain the media from publishing, discussing or politicising the tussle between the four judges and the CJI on the subject matter of the January 12 press conference, but the CJI refused to entertain any such plea.
The four judges were aggrieved over the roster system being followed by the CJI for selectively allocating cases to some of the junior judges, including the assignment of case seeking probe into the death of former CBI judge H.B. Loya.
They felt they were being sidelined and alleged that the situation in the Supreme Court was not in order and said many “less than desirable” things have taken place in the last few months.
In an apparent warning, the judges said lack of impartiality in allocation of high profile cases and constitution of benches with junior judges could harm democracy.
