Justice Chelameswar refuses to comment on judicial crisis

Senior judge of the Supreme Court, Justice J Chelameswar on Monday refused to comment on the judicial crisis, which was raised by three other senior Supreme Court judges, who revolted against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra.

At the launch of the book titled 'Supreme Court of India, The Beginning', penned by legal scholar George H Gadbois, Jr, Justice Chelameswar replied, "No comments," when the reporters asked questions on the progress of resolving the crisis.

"For the survival of a liberal democracy, an impartial and independent judiciary is essential without which it will not flourish. The decisions made by the apex court touched the lives of the entire population. Here was a need for a solution to clear the backlog of cases in the higher judiciary. This problem was real," he later said.

He added that the enormous jurisdiction which the Supreme Court is conferred with by the Constitution, coupled with the eagerness of the court to do complete justice, created a huge amount of arrears on this court.

"The backlog appears to be huge and impossible to be cleared. A solution must be found if the institution is to remain relevant. Ways and means for solving the problem must be devised," Justice Chelameswar asserted.

Politicians such as Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh and advocate Prashant Bhushan were also present at the event.

The apparent crisis in the top court came to the fore when four Supreme Court judges, justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, on January 12 held a press conference - a first by apex court judges - and alleged that the CJI had been violating the conventions in his role as the master of the roster.