Judicial crisis not resolved yet, confirms Attorney General

There seems to be no end to the rift between judges of Supreme Court. Four days after four senior judges of the top court brought the rift out in open, Attorney General K K Venugopal on Tuesday said that the “judicial crisis seems to be not resolved”.

According to the Attorney General, the issue between the judges is likely to be settled in next two to three days. "We are in the process of resolving the issue. It would be resolved shortly," he added.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh also said that the crisis is likely to be resolved by the end of this week.

This adds fuel to speculation over the rift not ending with Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra not including the four rebel judges in the five-judge constitution bench, which is slated to hear range of crucial cases.

The five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by CJI Misra, consists of Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. CJI Misra gave a miss to four senior most judges – Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

The bench will commence the hearing on a range of crucial matters from Wednesday, January 17. It will listen to top cases including the validity of the Aadhaar Act, 2013 judgement re-criminalising gay sex between consenting adults, entry of women in Kerala's Sabarimala temple and many more crucial matters.

From October 10, 2017, the same set of five judges heard important cases including the power tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government over administrative jurisdiction and a matter relating to passive euthanasia.

In an unprecedented press conference on January 12, four senior-most judges of the top court claimed that cases are being assigned selectively and allocated to benches of preference. 

"We have tried to convince Chief Justice that certain things are not in order and remedial measures are needed. Unfortunately, our efforts failed," said Justice Chelameswar. "Democracy cannot survive in this or in any country if these remedial measures are not put in place.

They also raised questions over listing of PILs concerning Loya's death.