SC judges’ row: CJI Misra assures BCI of sorting out crisis soon

New Delhi, January 14

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on Sunday met a seven-member delegation of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and assured it that the crisis following a virtual revolt by four seniormost Supreme Court judges against him would be sorted out soon.

After a 50-minute meeting with the CJI, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, who headed the delegation, told reporters that the meeting took place in a congenial atmosphere and that Justice Misra assured them that everything would be sorted out soon.

"We met the CJI in a congenial atmosphere and he said that everything would be sorted out soon," he said.

Mishra added that before meeting the CJI, the panel had also discussed the crisis plaguing the higher judiciary with other judges, including three of the four seniormost judges, who had mounted a virtual revolt against Justice Misra at an unprecedented press conference here on Friday.

He said the panel met justices J Chelameswar, M B Lokur, and Kurian Joseph and that they also assured it that everything would be sorted out.

Mishra did not mention whether the panel had a talk with the fourth rebellious judge, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who had gone out of station after Friday's presser.

He added that the media would be informed about the BCI's daylong parleys with the Supreme Court judges at a press conference tomorrow.

Hectic parleys took place throughout the day among the apex court judges as well over the crisis that has erupted after the virtual revolt by the four seniormost judges of the court against the CJI.

Two top court judges -- justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao -- met Justice Chelameswar, who had led the four judges at the unprecedented press conference, at his official residence here, sources said.

The BCI panel also had a brief meeting with Justice Arun Mishra, who is in focus for hearing a PIL seeking a probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya.

Loya, who was dealing with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh "fake encounter" case, had allegedly died of a cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014.

The four rebellious judges had raised a question over the allocation of Loya's case to Justice Mishra.

The four judges had flagged a litany of problems, including the assigning of cases in the apex court, and said there were certain issues afflicting the country's highest court. — PTI