With days remaining for the elevation of Justice JS Khehar as Chief Justice of India, the Supreme Court on Friday scuttled attempts made by a group of lawyers opposing this move and instead rooting for Justice J Chelameswar, who is currently the third senior most in the Supreme Court after the CJI.
A Vacation Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and l Nageswara Rao found no reason to entertain the petition filed by the members of National lawyers’ Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms as the Presidential notification appointing Justice Khehar as next CJI was already out. Finding the petition to be too late in the day, the bench said, “This petition has virtually become infructuous. We will allow you to withdraw it as nothing remains in the petition.”
The offer from the Court split the petitioner body. While one lawyer among them, who claimed to be the organisation Secretary, sought an adjournment as the body’s president was not present in Court, the vice-president of the same body stood up and sought to point out that the petition is not infructuous. Yet another member, claiming to be a member of the petitioner body, admitted that nothing survived in the petition and sought permission to withdraw the same. The melee resulted in the Court observing, “You are fighting among yourselves,” as it proceeded to dismiss the petition.