The Supreme Court on Wednesday lost its cool over the Himachal Pradesh Government and ended up calling its lawyer a ‘chammach’ (mouthpiece) for demanding the recusal of a judge hearing a case related to encroachments in the State.
The lawyer Abhinav Mukherjee who appeared for the State informed the bench of Justices Madan B lokur, Deepak Gupta and S Abdul Nazeer that a similar PIl relating to the same subject was filed by one Punam Gupta, the wife of Justice Deepak Gupta, that was pending consideration before the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
Turning the tables on the State Government, the bench asked, “Does the State have nothing else to doij What about governing the Stateij” The Court pointed out that the matter filed in the HC related to encroachment on forest land that had nothing to do with the case before it that involved encroachment on public land. The Court asked the lawyer whether he had read the petition. He informed the Court that he was acting upon instruction and had not read the petition. “Tell your state that this will not be tolerated,” the bench said, adding, “Do not be the mouthpiece of somebody who has some vested interest. You are an advocate and officer of the court and not a ‘chamach’ of the State.”
The bench got support from amicus curiae senior advocate PS Patwalia who did not support the State. The Court directed the State to produce the status report on clearing encroachments by next date.