Senior Counsel's open letter to CJI DY Chandrachud an attempt to pressurise judiciary, must be dealt with iron hand: BCI Chairman

Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman and Senior Advocate Manan Kumar Mishra on Saturday wrote to Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud expressing concerns about a recent open letter by a senior lawyer to the CJI over the listing of sensitive cases pending before the Supreme Court..On December 6, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave had addressed an open letter addressed to the CJI claiming that many cases which were being heard by certain benches were shifted out and listed before other benches in violation of the Supreme Court Rules and the Handbook on Practice and Procedure of the Court which govern listing of cases..While Mishra in his letter does not take the name of Dave, he says that the same is not an isolated incident but represents a classic ploy to influence the judiciary, a mechanism that has been employed repeatedly before various other CJIs.The letter by the senior counsel is contemptuous and a mischief perpetrated to further ulterior motives and ends, Mishra has said, calling for the judiciary to tackle these attempts with an iron hand to preserve the free and fair functioning of the legal system."The attempts made through such letters clearly amount to contemptuous conduct and a mischief perpetrated to further ulterior motives and ends. The Hon’ble courts must tackle such attempt with iron hands. Such practice can be curbed by wholly ignoring them and ensuring that the same does not have any impact on the free and fair functioning of the existing system. It must be remembered that such letters come from few selected quarters represented by a handful of senior counsels with political motives and for commercial stakes," Mishra has stated..The BCI Chairman has argued that such letters dishearten the hopes of younger members of the Bar who diligently discharge their duties within the legal framework. He alleges that these attempts are often prompted by influential and powerful litigants aiming to gain advantage over their counterparts..Mishra has further contended that the claims made by Dave's letter lack truth and bona fide, serving only to attract cheap publicity and to pressurise the judiciary..The letter has asserted that the BCI stands firmly with the CJI and has urged him to 'stamp out the nuisance that these letters seek to create and set a lasting precedent against such attempts.'.Dave's letter to the CJI came soon after the senior counsel had in open court remarked that cases earlier heard by a bench led by Justice Aniruddha Bose were wrongly being transferred to a bench led by Justice Bela M Trivedi, who is junior to Justice Bose.Further, the case concerning delays by the Central government in notifying appointment of judges recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium was deleted from the bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul who had been hearing the matter.Justice Kaul himself was not amused by the same.He clarified in open court on December 5 that he did not have a role to play in the deletion. However, he hinted that the CJI might be aware of the deletion and suggested that certain matters are better left unsaid..[Read BCI Chairman's Letter]