Don't proceed with CJI probe ex-parte: Supreme Court judge to panel

NEW DELHI: Justice DY Chandrachud has written to the Supreme Court's three-judge inhouse committee, headed by Justice SA Bobde, not to proceed with the ex-parte inquiry into a dismissed SC woman employee's sexual harassment complaint against CJI Ranjan Gogoi since the complainant had opted out of the inquiry on April 30.
Justice Chandrachud, in line to become CJI after Justices Bobde, NV Ramana and UU Lalit, took the unprecedented step of advising the in-house panel of Justices Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee after it decided to go ahead with the inquiry exparte. The committee had told the complainant that proceedings would go on if she chose to withdraw midway.
The SC denied a media report on Sunday that Chandrachud and RF Nariman met the panel to express concern over ex-parte proceedings.

In a letter written on May 2, Justice Chandrachud said credibility of the institution would suffer if the inquiry proceeded in the absence of the complainant, sources said. He also suggested to the panel that providing a lawyer to assist her during the inquiry would do no harm. The complainant had insisted on having lawyer Vrinda Grover with her during the inquiry proceedings.
Supreme Court secretary general Sanjeev Kalgaonkar issued an official denial of a media report that said Justices Chandrachud and Nariman met the panel. "It is most unfortunate that a leading newspaper has chosen to state that Justice Nariman and Justice Chandrachud together met Justice Bobde on Friday evening, that is on May 3, 2019. This is wholly incorrect. The in-house committee, which is deliberating on the issue concerning Chief Justice of India, deliberates on its own without any input from any Supreme Court judge."
TOI contacted many sitting judges in the SC and HCs, who expressed concern over Justice Chandrachud writing to the in-house committee, which was constituted by Justice Bobde after CJI Gogoi delegated all administrative and judicial powers for setting up the inquiry panel to him.
Justice Bobde was also empowered to decide the composition of a bench which took note of advocate Utsav Singh Bains's affidavit alleging that fixers and middlemen had ganged up with others to defame the CJI.
The bench has since ordered an inquiry by retired SC judge AK Patnaik and asked CBI, IB and Delhi Police to give assistance to him as and when sought for. The judges contacted by TOI were of the opinion that Justice Chandrachud's letter amounted to interfering in the independent inquiry process. "Can an SC judge write to his colleague about the manner in which his colleague should proceed while hearing of a case? Would it not amount to interference in justice delivery system?" they asked.
A retired SC judge told TOI, "Should someone have written a letter to Justice Chandrachud about the manner in which he had decided the petition seeking independent probe into the death of judicial officer Loya allegedly in suspicious circumstances. He did not recuse from the bench despite the lawyers - senior advocate Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising - repeatedly seeking his recusal."
However, several judges said a bad precedent had been set and now no judge could object if a colleague judge, lawyer or litigant wrote advising how to proceed with the hearing of a particular case.
The complainant had recorded her statement before the panel on two days prior to opting out of the inquiry on the ground that her advocate Vrinda Grover was not permitted to take part in the inquiry as her lawyer. A few days ago, advocate Prashant Bhushan had told the media that he, along with his father and senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, Indira Jaising, Kamini Jaiswal and Grover, had helped the dismissed woman employee file the sexual harassment complaint against the CJI.
The season of unprecedented happenings in the apex court began with the press conference of January 12, 2018, when the four most senior SC judges led by Justice J Chelameswar hit out at then CJI Dipak Misra, complaining against assigning of the petition seeking probe into death of judicial officer BH Loya allegedly under suspicious circumstances, to a junior SC judge. Since then, the SC has been rocked by controversies such as the notice for removal of then CJI Misra moved by Congress, the sexual harassment complaint against CJI Gogoi, setting up of the firstever in-house panel to probe a sexual harassment complaint against a CJI and now the letter by a judge to the inhouse panel while it is still in the midst of an inquiry.