New Delhi: Taking exception to an ‘open letter’ written recently by senior advocate Dushyant Dave to the Chief Justice of India Dr. D. Y. Chandrachud, the Supreme Court Bar Association president Dr. Adish C Aggarwala expressed his solidarity with the Chief Justice and urged the latter to “ignore such malicious, motivated and dubious attempts”.
In his “open letter” to Justice Chandrachud, which was also copied to the other judges of the Supreme Court, Dave on December 6, 2023, wrote that he was “deeply anguished at certain happenings about the listing of cases by the” Supreme Court “Registry”.
“I have personally come across a number of cases listed before various Hon’ble Benches upon first listing and/ or in which notice have been issued, being taken away from those Hon’ble Benches and listed before other Hon’ble Benches. Despite the first coram being available, the matters are being listed before a Hon’ble Benches in which the second coram presides,” Dave wrote in the letter.
Hitting hard at Dave without naming him, Dr. Aggarwala despatched a letter to the Chief Justice on December 7, 2023, where he, on behalf of the Supreme Court Bar Association, requested Dr. Chandrachud “to ignore these attempts which are nothing but self-serving attacks on the independence of the judiciary”. He further wrote to Justice Chandrachud: “Owing to this misbehaviour by some senior counsel, the Bar suffers disgrace and the harmony between the Bar and the Bench gets disturbed. The ill-behaving lawyers still stand to benefit because they attract clients who want to put pressure on the courts to decide cases in a certain manner.”
Asserting that the Bar has full faith and reposes full confidence in the “neutrality and unprecedented administrative skill” of Justice Chandrachud and “other Hon’ble companion Judges”, Dr. Aggarwala stated that “it is for the first time in the history of the Supreme Court that the last person standing in the queue has also been given equal and full access to justice”.
He claimed that after Dr. Chandrachud took over as Chief Justice of India, all administrative issues were streamlined right from mentioning of matters, listing of cases and other issues concerning the Registry.
“The conduct of hearings in the Supreme Court by all Hon’ble Judges boosts the confidence of every member of the Bar because the treatment being given to a young lawyer is the same which is accorded to a senior advocate. This has encouraged litigants to not be dependent upon only senior members of the Bar,” the Supreme Court Bar Association president stated. According to him those who are unable to afford unrealistically high fees are also “enthusiastically seeking justice and are being given a fair hearing, and relief as per the merit of their case. Perhaps the said treatment at par of younger members of the Bar has not gone down well with a few senior lawyers who have started making concerted efforts to overawe this system”.
Dr. Aggarwala sought to assure the Chief Justice that the entire Bar, “except a few individuals, are fully satisfied with your leadership, both on the judicial side as well as on the administrative side”. Of late, he claimed, there has been a growing tendency of writing such letters to sitting Chief Justices of India to exert undue pressure on the administration of justice. Such letters are written demonstratively with respect to a few selected cases and at the behest of some influential litigants.
He also recalled that “undignified behaviour” with judges by some counsel particularly a few days before their retirement has become a common phenomenon. Often it is aimed at attracting publicity and creating an element of uneasiness among the judges. It is also meant to attract some select clientele whose brief lacks anything on merit, he stated. Such similar attempts were made in the past concerning past Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of India, and Dr. Aggarwala narrated the details of some of which hereunder:
- A letter was written to the then Chief Justice of India stating without any basis that certain commercial matters were being listed before “benches of preference” (2019)
- A letter is written by the same member of the Bar to the then Chief Justice of India wherein he complained that while being present virtually, he was not being allowed to speak at the retirement function of a Supreme Court Judge. (2020)
- A letter is written to the then Chief Justice of India alleging “improper” urgent listing of a case relating to a news reporter wherein unsubstantiated allegations of selective listing are made. (2020).
While heading one of the three organs of the State, the Chief Justice of India is bound to encounter some detractors who could be canvassing for disgruntled litigants who couldn’t secure the relief they desired, Dr. Aggarwala wrote, and added, ” This can be discouraged by steadfastly ignoring such attempts and continuing with the stellar work and this unprecedented exercise to cleanse the administrative system and to clear the backlog by assigning matters as per domain expertise and various other considerations which the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India is entitled to keep in mind”.
He stated that the Administration cannot waste its “precious time entertaining every letter making wild and imaginary accusations”.
The assignment of cases is not open to question on the judicial or the administrative side and, as a corollary, it is neither required to be by way of a speaking order nor is it required to be justified by responding to any person calling it into question, he pointed out.
“The writing of such letters is therefore malicious, and calculated to embarrass the Administration. The time has come where one should put an end to the practice of writing of such letters. This will subserve the interest of the Bar and will strengthen the Administration of Justice. It is essential to curb every attempt to scandalize the court mechanisms with insinuations and falsehood, aimed at mischievously shaking the confidence of the public in our courts,” he wrote.
– global bihari bureau
