A fake news on a leftist website with the headline ‘Justice Mishra Recuses from the Loya Case’ with the article’s body saying otherwise remains on website even as news came that the case will be heard by a two-judge bench comprising of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice DY Chandrachud.
The points to note are Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar, who heard the case on January 16, did not recuse themselves from the case. The case was taken away from them. Two, none of the four senior judges who held a press conference on January 12 are on the “appropriate bench” to hear the case, which was said to be the “tipping point” for their unprecedented January 12 press conference.
The CJI and the four senior judges had made the Judge Loya death case a matter of prestige, as to who had a say in assigning cases to SC benches in the court, with the four judges making it clear that even though the CJI was the “master of the roster”, he was only “one among equals”.
The website, which incidentally agrees with the four judges, arrived at the conclusion “recuse” on its interpretation of the words “appropriate bench”. The bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Shantanagoudar had in its order said evidence on the case be produced before an “appropriate bench” in seven days’ time. Speculation on what the term “appropriate bench” roiled media and the website chose to interpret them as “recuse”. It debated the import of the two words in the body of the copy but chose to headline the report “recuse”. Period.
On Friday, the SC fixed January 22 for hearing the pleas seeking an independent probe into the “mysterious death” of CBI Judge M H Loya, who was hearing the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a police encounter at the time of his own death. BJP president Amit Shah was one of the accused in the case and his political rivals have alleged that there was something fishy in Judge Loya’s death.
CJI Misra and Justice Chandrachud on Friday directed listing of the petitions before “an appropriate bench”, thereby indicating that the case has been taken out of the hands of the Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Shantanagoudar bench.
The petitioners in the case are Congress leader Tehhseen Poonawalla and Maharashtra journalist B S Lone. It has been left to the Maharashtra government as to which “appropriate” documents should be handed over to the petitioners. The Maharashtra government had on January 16 opposed the petitioners’ demand the entire set of documents.
At the time, the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Shantanagoudar ruled: “Let the documents be placed on record within seven days and if it is considered appropriate, furnished to the petitioners. Put up before the appropriate bench.”
By then the four senior judges of the SC – Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph – had held their press conference and the Loya death case was considered to be the tipping point for the January 12 “rebellion” in the SC.
The unspoken charge was that the CJI was “selectively” assigning cases to “preferred benches”. Moves have been afoot ever since the press conference on the lawn to reconcile the differences between the CJI and the four senior SC judges, with the CJI meeting them at least two times and the active intervention from the Bar Council of India and the Supreme Court Bar Association. But no pact was reached and A-G KK Venugopal admitted that differences persisted. Now, with none of the four senior most judges finding a place in the bench to hear the Judge Loya Death Case – with all its political implications – it is hardly likely that there will be a reconciliation.
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