KKV v. Indira Jaising in J. Swatanter Kumar sexual harassment case: SC issues notice in transfer petition

Senior Advocate and former Additional Solicitor General, Indira Jaising today strongly criticised the practice of senior lawyers “settling” and “resettling” plaints and affidavits in a bid to intimidate judges..Jaising raised this concern while arguing for the law intern in the transfer petition seeking transfer of defamation suit filed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Swatanter Kumar in the Delhi High Court..Senior Advocate KK Venugopal appeared for Justice Kumar. The case was heard at length by a three judge Bench presided by Chief Justice RM Lodha, which eventually proceeded to issue notice..When the matter was taken up as item 15 today, Jaising drew the attention of the court to the fact that twenty four senior lawyers had appeared for Justice Kumar in the defamation suit in the Delhi High Court..Referring to the plaint filed by Justice Kumar, Jaising said,.“Mukul Rohatgi, Chandhiok, Rajiv Nayar, Neeraj Kishan Kaul all appeared for Justice Kumar. Fortunately, some of them are law officers today. I have never seen this kind of practice. The plaint has been “settled” and “resettled” by different lawyers. It was seen in the Sahara case as well. This practice needs to be deprecated.”.She further submitted that the intern had approached many senior lawyers to take up her case, including KK Venugopal, but the majority of them had declined as they had already been approached by Justice Kumar. She also said that Harish Salve was the only senior lawyer who appeared for the intern. Contending that Justice Kumar has an influence over the Bar and the Bench in Delhi, she requested that the matter be shifted out of Delhi to ensure a fair hearing..Replying to Jaising’s arguments, KK Venugopal said that even the intern had Harish Salve and Vrinda Grover to defend her. This irked Jaising, who retorted saying that she had already admitted Salve’s apperance and that it was not appropriate to bracket Vrinda Grover with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi. Justice Lodha immediately intervened:.“It is not fair on your part to make such a comment. When a lawyer is standing before us, it does not make any difference who he or she is. We will hear the case …. we want to ensure that justice is done.”.The Court then proceeded to issue notice to Justice Kumar who will have to file his reply within four weeks. .The hearing in the defamation suit filed by Justice Kumar in the Delhi High Court has been deferred due to the transfer petition pending in the Supreme Court..Image of Indira Jaising taken from here.