SC crisis: Impasse continues, unwell Justice Chelameswar not in court

Efforts to resolve the unprecedented crisis that rocked the Supreme Court made no headway today as Justice Chelameswar, one of the four dissenting judges, did not turn up at the court as he was reported to be unwell.

As the impasse over the crisis after the virtual revolt by the four judges against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra last Friday continued, sources said Justice Chelameswar had a brief meeting with another dissenting judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi at his residence.

"Their meeting lasted for 15 minutes," the sources said.

The CJI briefly met the other three judges --Justices Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Jospeh in the judges lounge before starting the court proceedings.

Later, during the lunch break also, the CJI along with other judges had a chat with them but sources said not much progress has been made and the impasse continues.

"Crisis has not yet been resolved," sources close to one of the four judges said.

With just two more working days left this week, sources said the impasse is not likely to be resolved till next week as some judges including one of the four dissenting judges will be out of station as per their scheduled programme.

The sources said hectic parleys were underway and that Justices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud also had a meeting with Justice Chelameswar, who is the senior most judge after the CJI, late last evening.

"Justice Chelameswar is on leave today as he is unwell," sources said, adding that he is expected to hold court tomorrow.

Justice Misra yesterday reached out to the four senior most judges holding a 15-minute meeting with them in a bid to defuse the unprecedented row over allocation of cases and other judicial issues.

It was expected that the CJI would have a morning meeting with all the four senior most judges today but that did not fructify due to Chelameswar's absence.

Later in the day, following an apex court tradition, the CJI and all the judges sat together for a lunch. Besides Chelameswar, two more judges -- Justices S A Bobde and A K Goel were not present as they were also on leave due to illness.

In a charming tradition, the apex court judges meet for lunch on Wednesday every week, with each of them taking turns to bring 'ghar ka khana'(home food) from his or her home state.

Justice Bobde, who in future will don the role of the CJI, had met Justice Chelameswar at his residence on Saturday, a day after the January 12 press conference during which the dissenting judges mounted a fierce criticism of the CJI over a range of issues afflicting the top court.

The four judges had also met at Justice Chelameswar's residence last evening.