[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. A. 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. II.B. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/medical-council- of-india-bribery-scam-supreme-court-i-m-quddusi-prashant-bhushan-5026131/ <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Findianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Findia%2Fmedical-council-of-india-bribery-scam-supreme-court-i-m-quddusi-prashant-bhushan-5026131%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFFcdHpt5Ygu7o9oaFqMbeyO5hWDA> Medical Council of India bribery scam: ‘Papa is saying, our captain… whatever he can do, he is ready’ Translated transcripts of purported conversations that are attached with Prashant Bhushan’s complaint in Medical Council of India bribery scam. Written by Ritu Sarin | New Delhi | Updated: January 16, 2018 5:20 am Prashant Bhushan, ishrat masroor quddusi, india news, indian express Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences, photo taken from its website Transcripts of the purported conversations (the conversations are in Hindi and translated into English) that are attached to advocate Prashant Bhushan’s complaint show a match in dates and timeline between what is being spoken and, subsequently, developments and hearings in the Supreme Court in connection with the Medical Council of India bribery scam and the cases being filed by the Prasad Education Trust. Related Report | MCI bribery scam: Bhushan sends transcripts to Four ‘rebel’ plus Justice AK Sikri, says probe CJI The most revealing are conversations dated September 3 and 4, 2017. This is a snatch of the tapped conversation dated September 3, 2017, for instance,between I M Quddusi, retired judge of Orissa High Court, and alleged middleman Viswanath Agarwala: Agarwala: …In which is theirs, in which temple (mandir) is it – temple of Allahabad or temple in Delhi? Quddusi: No, no it is not in any temple yet, now it needs to be. Agarwala: Yes, yes, yes. So now you can talk about it, he will do it. About that I have already spoken there. Quddusi: He has said, sure (pucca) Agarwala: Yes, yes. In this you see this one thing…100 per cent this, our person who is our captain, it is being done through the captain, so what is the problem, tell me?…. Also Read | CBI chargesheet against former Orissa HC judge soon in medical college scam The brief tapped conversation between the two ends with them proposing to meet the next day; the transcript reads: Quddusi: OK, so tomorrow is our meeting (mulakaat) Agarwala: Now only one thing Father (Papa) is saying, one thing he is saying that this captain of ours…is all over India, whatever work there is whatever he can do, he is ready (tehiyaar) to do. Agarwala: Yes, yes yes, we will surely (pucca) get it done. *** medical college scam, lucknow medical scam, justice quddusi, medical college corruption case, Medical Council of India bribery scam, Prashant Bhushan, ishrat masroor quddusi, india news, indian express I M Quddusi The complaint filed by Prashant Bhusan and the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms notes that the writ petition filed by the Prasad Education Trust was admitted a day after this purported conversation, on September 4, 2017, by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The other relevant conversation purportedly intercepted is of that date (September 4, 2017) in which the third player in the bribery scam, B P Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust also joins in at a later stage. During the conversation they purportedly talk about the petition being admitted and the next date of the hearing being “Monday”. That date is September 11, 2017 when the matter was indeed listed and heard by a bench headed by the Chief Justice. The lengthy transcript begins: Quddusi: I am saying that I have someone I know from before Quddusi: They are saying they filed their petition today and they have been given a date for Monday. They are saying how much and how will it be and secondly, how will they have faith (vishvas) that the work will be done for sure. Agarwala: Are these those medical people? Quddusi: Yes yes. Agarwala: So the date is listed for the coming Monday? Agarwala: So that is the review, yes? Quddusi: No, it is a petition under Article 32. Agarwala: Yes, yes, yes. There is no assurance. If the goods (saamaan) is given, then the work will be done 100 per cent. *** medical college scam, lucknow medical scam, justice quddusi, medical college corruption case, Medical Council of India bribery scam, Prashant Bhushan, ishrat masroor quddusi, india news, indian express Retired Judge Ishrat Masroor Quddusi. (Express Photo) Shortly afterwards, Yadav comes into the purported conversation. Yadav: Did you recognise me? I am D P Yadav speaking. Yadav: So that day I had gone to the high court because, see brother, at that time my money was stuck. I spoke in a clear cut manner That’s why we went. From there they gave an order. After coming here, they dismissed (kharij kar diya) it. They said to file a fresh petition, a fresh petition has been filed under Article 32. It had a date, the date has been pushed to the 11th. So what we want is that tomorrow we will make your ticket, Vishvanathji I will give it to you now you get our work done for us. Agarwala: No, the work is not 100 percent but 500 per cent guarantee but the goods (samaan) will have to be give before and they are refusing to meet because the Government that is there—-tea sellers Government (chai wale ka) —- they are keeping everyone under watch, that is the problem. *** The other snatch from the same purported conversation of September 4, 2017 also appears to be in code language between Vishwanath Agarwala and D P Yadav. Agarwala: I will confirm it otherwise I would not have have said it, because we are doing this work….it is very necessary for the trade. Medical people are necessary, there is no problem with that. But see there are some people there who without giving (lagaye) parshad nothing will happen. Yadav: No, parshad will be given (lagega); parshad will be given; parshad will have to be given. Agarwala: work will be done 100 per cent but I will not go to speak tomorrow or the day after…you keep the goods (saamaan) ready…if you give, we will get it done…100 per cent we will get it done…there is no problem. Yadav: Meaning advance will have to be given. Agarwala: yes, advance will have to be given to them. Otherwise tell, why will they do it? In such things there is nothing in writing (likhat padi). All this runs on faith (vishwas) in the world. They will do it 100 per cent. -- 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
