Mumbai lawyers react to the press conference held by the four SC judges

Four senior judges of the Supreme Court yesterday mounted a virtual revolt against the Chief Justice listing a litany of problems that they said are afflicting the countrys highest court and warned that these could destroy the Indian democracyIn a scathing criticism and unvarnished selfreflection of the Supreme Court Justice J Chelameswar who was accompanied by Justices Ranjan Gogoi M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph at a press conference said they had met Chief Justice Dipak Misra yesterday morning and raised issues affecting the institutionHe said all the four judges failed to persuade the CJI that certain things are not in order and therefore he should take remedial measures Their joint news conference left the judiciary and observers stunned leaving it uncertain how this open dissension in the hallowed institution would be resolvedA senior member of the Bar advocate Shreepad Murthy said For a while now discontent was simmering amongst the higher and lower judiciary yesterday it boiled over The question always was who is going to bell the cat I think whatever happened may set in motion a chain of events that will bring about some change which is needed after 6070 years Yesterday may be the catalyst for that whatever the case it is certainly a beginning of sortsLegal eagles give their takeVivekanand Ajgaonkar advocate Bombay High CourtThis is a sad development and ought not to have happened It puts a question mark over the institution I agree with the widely used unprecedented to describe what happened and I strongly feel that things should have been sorted out before they were allowed to get to this stage Right now I dont think it is opportune to speculate on what signals this sends out to the entire judiciary and I think mutiny is too strong a word to be used for what these four judges have doneAshwin Ankhad advocate Bombay High CourtThis has stunned the Bar at Mumbai unprecedented in judicial history In 1973 when three Honble SC judges were superseded in the appointment of the Chief Justice of the SC they had honourably resigned Tremors were felt then too but it was within the institution It is too early though to assess the impact on the BarRaju Moray activistlawyer counsel Bombay High CourtThe institution is bigger than the individual The Chief Justice is the first amongst equals He is the master of the roster I see this as a huge ego clash If the senior judges had a bone of contention it is not their place to take it to the public If you are not satisfied with the way your washing machine is washing clothes do you mean to say you will wash your dirty linen in publicThis demolishes the integrity of the institution and dents its esteem This shakes the publics faith in the institution and this is a way to damage its credibility The damage can be only done from the inside because if it is done from the outside it will amount to contempt I see this as a prelude to disregarding the courts orders This is like doing forum shoppingDemocracy is at stake here and this leaves the door open for those with political clout to fix benches for particular results What is the point of walking out of the Chief Justice office and going straight to the media and public And now if you have done that come out clean and come out straight about your accusations Do not talk in clicheacutes as these judges are doing Point straight to the corruption do not talk in riddlesCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go