SCBA president recused from EC meet on resolution condemning AP CM’s letter to CJI: Secy

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

SCBA president Dushyant Dave had recused from the process of passing the resolution condemning Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s letter to Chief Justice of India S A Bobde in which allegations were levelled against a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, an official of the bar body said on Monday.

Dave had a different view “in principle” on passing the resolution at such an early stage, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Secretary Rohit Pandey said when asked about media reports on alleged division in the executive committee (EC) over the issue.

Dave had reportedly said the bar had no idea about the truthfulness of the allegations and such a resolution would be premature at this stage.

Pandey said the majority was, however, in favour of condemning Reddy’s act of making public the allegations.

He said Dave had sought EC’s nod for not taking part in the meeting which was then chaired by SCBA Vice President Kailash Vasudev.

The resolution was passed “unanimously” in the meeting chaired by Vasudev, the SCBA Secretary said.

He said all EC members, except the President, were on board in passing of the resolution to condemn the CM’s letter to the CJI.

Earlier, the SCBA had said in its resolution that “such action by constitutional functionaries is opposed to conventions causing serious inroads impacting the independence of the judiciary as enshrined in the Constitution of India”.

The resolution said that its executive committee, at a meeting on October 16, strongly condemned the action of Reddy in releasing the letter to the CJI making allegations against the sitting judge in the public domain.

Several other bar bodies have also condemned Reddy’s action.

In an unprecedented move, the chief minister wrote the letter to the CJI, alleging that the Andhra Pradesh High Court was being used to “destabilise and topple my democratically elected government”.

He requested the CJI to look into the matter and consider initiating steps “as may be considered fit and proper to ensure that the state judiciary’s neutrality is maintained”.

He alleged that the senior apex court judge had proximity to TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and that a “former judge of the honourable Supreme Court placed this fact on record”.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article carried an incorrect photo. The error is regretted.

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