'Not expected': Bar Council lashes out at Justice Chelameswar after his retirement
June 25, 2018 19:18
The Bar Council of India has lashed out against Justice J Chelameswar for his "controversial" and "irrelevant" statements in the media, three days after his retirement as a Supreme Court Judge, saying such comments are liable to be "deprecated" and "cannot be tolerated" by lawyers.
Justice Chelameswar, who demitted office on June 22, had disapproved of the Centre's decision not to elevate Justice K M Joseph to the Supreme Court, terming the action as "not sustainable".
The judge, who had held an unprecedented presser along with three other senior Supreme Court judges in January to highlight the litany of allegations including discrimination in allocation of cases to benches, had also said that the credibility of the highest judiciary was "occasionally" in danger.
Efforts to reach Justice Chelameswar for his comments did not frucitify.
In a statement, BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has criticised the statements of Justice Chelameswar after he demitted the office, and said it was not expected from a person who had held a high post and went against its dignity.
"Self-restraint by the judges of the highest court seems to be a forgotten virtue. They have to prevent themselves from issuing statements without giving any thought to the consequences such statements could entail.
"The manner in which Justice Chelameswar went to the media and gave controversial and irrelevant statements immediately upon retirement, was not expected of a person holding such a high post and was in fact against the dignity of the post he had held.
"Such statements and comments are liable to be deprecated. Such statements cannot be tolerated, accepted or digested by the advocates including the rest of the countrymen," the statement, also signed by four other office-bearers of BCI, said.
The statement said the judge had used a "controversial" word "bench fixing" and pointed out that there were instances in which "a handful of lawyers" had filed matters and mentioned it before him and tried to get it listed.
The BCI said the judge should have raised an objection at that time but did not do so.
-- PTI
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