Ignore Dave's letter in listing row: SCBA chief to CJI

New Delhi, December 7

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Adish C Aggarwala today urged CJI DY Chandrachud to ignore an open letter written to him by SCBA ex-chief Dushyant Dave about “certain happenings” in listing of cases, saying “such malicious, motivated and dubious attempts” were nothing but “self-serving attacks on the independence of judiciary”.

Following alleged sudden deletion of a case on delay in judicial appointments listed before Justice SK Kaul, Dave had written to the CJI that “he was deeply anguished at certain happenings about the listing of cases by the Registry of the Supreme Court…. Some cases are sensitive in nature involving human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, and functioning of statutory and constitutional institutions”.

Noting that such happenings did not augur well for the “highly respected” institution, Dave had urged the CJI to “look into this immediately and take corrective measures”.

Expressing “shock” over the letter, Aggarwala said, “If the CJI succumbs to such pressure tactics, it would sound a death knell to the independence of this great institution at the hands of vested interests.”

Aggarwala said that, of late, a growing tendency had emerged of writing such letters to CJIs to “exert undue pressure” on the administration of justice.

Such letters, he said, were written demonstratively with respect to a few selected cases and at the behest of some influential litigants.