Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : The Supreme Court today took strong exception to comments by some lawyers painting its judges as pro-government, saying it had been taking the government to task on various issues.
“The former Supreme Court Bar Association president said that the Supreme Court was full of pro-government judges. That’s not true. They should come and sit in the Supreme Court to see how the government is hauled up in favour of citizens’ rights,” Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, who was part of a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said referring to a comment by a senior lawyer.
“Judges’ comments are reported as judgments. Then, these are commented upon during discussions as if these are judgments,” Justice Chandrachud said as the Bench — also comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar — disapproved of the comments of former SCBA chief Dushyant Dave on a TV channel about judges being “pro-government” during a discussion on transfer of Karnataka High Court judge Jayant Patel to the Allahabad High Court. Justice Patel had later resigned in protest.
Asim Pandya of the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHCAA) had on Wednesday written an open letter asking judges to uphold the Constitution.
The Bench was hearing a petition against former UP minister Azam Khan for his controversial statement on the 2016 Bulandshahr rape case. Khan had said the case was a political conspiracy.
It referred to a Constitution Bench the question about the extent of restraint that can be put on a person holding a public office while commenting on sub-judice or under-investigation matters.
The Bench sent the matter to the Constitution Bench after amicus curiae Fali S. Nariman and Harish Salve said an increasing number of such issues were coming up wherein persons holding high positions were making controversial statements on matters pending before courts or being investigated.
