[Even if the public rebellion by the four seniormost judges against the CJI, alleging allocation of sensitive cases to favoured junior judges to obtain desired judgements, has apparently failed to make any tangible impact on the conduct of the CJI, it has helped to lift the veil cloaking the working of the apex court and showed up the judges, armed with the special power of "contempt", just as ordinary mortals as much as any politician or bureaucrat or whoever is.
That is not likely to fade too soon. And, there may still be reverberations. But, this is a dark day for Indian democracy. The proverbial straw in the wind.] I/II. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/cji-sets-up-5-judge-constitution-bench-to-hear-major-issues/articleshow/62514839.cms?utm_campaign=andapp&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com CJI sets up 5-judge constitution bench to hear major issues PTI | Updated: Jan 16, 2018, 08:02 IST HIGHLIGHTS Four senior Supreme Court judges had, on Friday, publicly expressed their grievances against CJI Dipak Misra and alleged irregularities within the court. The apex court on Monday announced the composition of a 5-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI, which does not include these senior-most judges. The 5-judge bench will commence the hearing on a range of crucial matters from January 17. (Left to right) Justices Kurian Joseph, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, and Madan Lokur at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI photo)CJI sets up 5-judge constitution bench to hear major issues NEW DELHI: Amid a virtual rift between the Chief Justice Dipak Misra and four senior-most judges over assignment of important cases, the Supreme Court on Monday announced the composition of a 5-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI, which does not include them. None of the four judges — Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, feature in the list of members of the 5-judge constitution bench. As per official information, the 5-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A K Sikri, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan, will commence the hearing on a range of crucial matters from January 17. Meanwhile, court sources said it was not confirmed whether the CJI on Monday met the four judges who had hurled accusations against him at their controversial press conference on January 12. As per the list of business for Tuesday, the 5-judge bench will hear major cases such as those challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and its 2013 judgment re-criminalising gay sex between consenting adults. The same combination of judges had last year heard various constitution bench matters from October 10, including the power tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government over administrative jurisdiction and a matter relating to passive euthanasia. This bench would also hear the contentious issue of the ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years of age in Kerala's Sabarimala temple and resume hearing a legal query on whether a Parsi woman would lose her religious identity if she marries a man from a different religion. Another contentious matter relates to the challenge to the validity of a penal law on adultery, which only punishes a married man for having an extra-marital sexual relationship with a woman married to someone else. The other issues to be dealt with by constitution bench include the pleas, which have raised a question as to when will a lawmaker, facing criminal trial, stand disqualified. All these matters were earlier referred to larger benches for adjudication by different benches of the apex court. The daily list of business for tomorrow shows that the two PILs seeking probe into Loya's death are listed before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, against whom aspersions were cast by a senior advocate in public. In their unprecedented press conference on Friday, the four senior judges of the apex court had mounted a virtual revolt against the CJI, listing a litany of problems, including the assignment of cases. They had also raised questions over listing of PILs concerning Loya's death. An office bearer of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) said a copy of their resolution was submitted by its president Vikas Singh to the CJI yesterday, but have not heard anything from the top court as yet. Singh had expressed hope that all judges of the apex court would consider the SCBA resolution seeking a full court discussion to defuse the crisis plaguing the higher judiciary. TOP COMMENT Most sensible move by the SC bench and CJI. Have no faith in these four judges and do not want their judgement hurting the peoples mind for ever. Andy L The SCBA, at an emergency meeting on Saturday, had passed the resolution expressing grave concern over the differences of four senior-most judges with the CJI. It had said that all public interest litigation (PIL) matters, including the pending PILs, should be either taken up by the CJI or be assigned for adjudication to four senior judges who are part of the apex court collegium. II. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/medical-council-of-india-bribery-scam-prashant-bhushan-sends-transcripts-to-four-rebel-plus-justice-ak-sikri-says-probe-cji-dipak-misra-5026298/ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/medical-council-of-india-bribery-scam-prashant-bhushan-sends-transcripts-to-four-rebel-plus-justice-ak-sikri-says-probe-cji-dipak-misra-5026298/ Medical Council of India bribery scam: Prashant Bhushan sends transcripts to four ‘rebel’ plus Justice Sikri, says probe CJI Prashant Bhushan is back with a new complaint against the CJI in the same case and has sent copies of it to the four “rebel” judges, Justices J Chelameswar, R Gogoi, K Joseph and M B Lokur. Written by Ritu Sarin | New Delhi | Updated: January 16, 2018 7:10 am Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan (File) Just over two months ago, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra locked horns in the Supreme Court after Bhushan demanded that the CJI recuse himself from the Lucknow medical college graft case. The CJI refused to do so and Bhushan stormed out of the court. Now he is back with a new complaint against the CJI in the same case and has sent copies of it to the four “rebel” judges, Justices J Chelameswar, R Gogoi, K Joseph and M B Lokur. A copy of the complaint was also sent to Justice A K Sikri. Signed by Bhushan, as Convenor of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms, the complaint calls for an inquiry against the Chief Justice by either three or five senior Supreme Court Judges for what are described as “various allegations of misconduct.” Also Read | Medical Council of India bribery scam: ‘Papa is saying, our captain… whatever he can do, he is ready’ The complaint alleges, “The CBI FIR makes allegations that the entire conspiracy and planning was to bribe and influence apex court judges who are dealing with the case of Prasad medical Trust. This Bench was clearly headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. In these circumstances, he was an interested party and could not have dealt with this case either on the judicial side or the administrative side by way of assigning a particular Bench to hear this case…while at this stage there may not be conclusive evidence of Justice Dipak Misra’s involvement, the circumstances listed definitely warrant a thorough investigation…” Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences, photo taken from its website The 24-page complaint (with 100 pages of annexures) concludes: “The above-mentioned matters have tarnished the reputation of the court and have brought the judiciary into disrepute. It is a matter which needs to be swiftly dealt with…” Also Read | CBI chargesheet against former Orissa HC judge soon in medical college scam Today’s complaint has been filed under the “in-house” procedure for investigating complaints against judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court. Bhushan has pointed out that since the “in-house” procedure is silent about complaints against the Chief Justice, these complaints cannot be examined by the Chief Justice himself and, therefore, must be examined by the next judge in seniority or by a collegium of senior judges. Coming just three days after four seniormost Supreme Court Judges went public with their complaint about allocation of benches in the tenure of the present Chief Justice, Bhushan has made the MCI case — in which too the benches were changed by the Chief Justice — the mainstay of his argument in his plea for initiating an inquiry against the CJI. Annexed in Bhushan’s complaint are transcripts of conversations of September 2017 purportedly recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Medical Council of India (MCI) bribery scam for which the agency had registered an FIR on September 19, 2017. I M Quddusi The tapped conversations are purportedly between I M Quddusi, retired Judge of the Orissa High Court who has been arrested by the CBI; Viswanath Agarwala, a middleman, and BP Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust, the institution which was barred by the MCI from admitting medical students and subsequently appealed before the Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court. The transcript has references to alleged payoffs. “In light of the convoluted course that the case followed and in light of these tapped telephonic conversations, this matter needs an independent investigation to ascertain the veracity of the claims being made in the conversations,of the plans to allegedly pay bribes to procure favourable order in the case…and to clear the doubt about the role of the present Chief Justice of india.” Besides the transcripts of tapped conversations, the FIR and copies of judgments in the Prasad Education Trust/MCI case, the annexures include pages from the Preliminary Inquiry report of the CBI. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. 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