In a truly unprecedent move today, the 4 senior most judges of the Supreme Court, after the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra , held a press conference, to let the nation know of “their failed efforts” to convince the Chief Justice to take steps to protect the institution. The four judges are Justices J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur, Ranjan Gogoi and Kurian Joseph.
While the press conference lacked in details, and was more of a symbol of protest, they judges said that they had written a letter to the CJI a few months back, which would clarify all doubts. The letter is reproduced below:
The letter seems to say that the established principle that the CJI is merely the first among equals and not a “superior authority”, has not been adhered to by the current CJI. The letter also indicates that judges should not “arrogate” i.e. claim unfairly, the authority to deal with cases, which ought to be handled by others. The letter also makes reference to the opaqueness of the current collegium system.
All said and done, this is just the beginning of a massive churn