Chief Justice Gavai's Sharp Note On Scandalous Allegations Against Judges

Chief Justice BR Gavai on Monday lamented the growing trend of making scandalous allegations against a judge when they do not pass orders favourable to one party or the other.

The Chief Justice – who will demit office on November 23 – was hearing a contempt of court argument in the N Peddi Raju case, in which the Supreme Court had pulled up Raju for making scurrilous comments against a Telangana High Court judge, Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya.

The court closed the case after senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said the Telangana judge had accepted Raju's apology. However, the Chief Justice made it clear he was not pleased.

"Such practices need to be strongly deprecated," he said.

"This court, as far back as 1954, had observed… that lawyers, as officers of the court, owe a duty to the court. The majesty of law does not lie in punishment but forgiving when an apology is made. And since the learned judge of the High Court, against whom allegations were made, has accepted the apology, we will not proceed any further," the Chief Justice-led bench said.

"However, we will add that lawyers as officers of court must be careful before signing pleadings which make allegations against judges of any court."

The top court in July had issued contempt notices to the litigant, i.e., Raju, and his lawyers for making 'scurrilous allegations' against the Telangana High Court judge in their plea.

The top court, while issuing show cause notices, refused to allow withdrawal of the petition, and said, “We cannot permit any litigant to make such allegations against a judge...."

The petition involved a case in which Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy received relief from the High Court in a matter under the SC/ST Act.

Specifically, the case involves the High Court's decision to quash a criminal case. The petitioner later approached the top court with a transfer plea, alleging bias and impropriety on the part of the Telangana judge.