The All India Lawyers' Union (AILU) wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde seeking an inquiry into the allegations made by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy against Justice N.V. Ramana, Supreme Court judge, and some judges of the Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) High Court, at the earliest through the in-house mechanism as per the extant rules and conventions, and requesting him to take the required remedial action.
If the allegations are found to be baseless, stringent action should be taken againist the CM for casting aspersions on the judiciary, AILU national vice-president S. Rajendra Prasad and national secretary N. Srinivasa Rao said.
They said the letter was unprecedented and that it was the first time that a writ petition was filed in the A.P. High Court alleging intimidation of judges through abusive statements and attribution of motives by constitutional functionaries.
A Division Bench of the High Court on October 12 ordered CBI investigation of all the FIRs registered in the matter. What happened, amounted to interference with the functioning of the judiciary, they said.
The scenario also highlights systemic and structural weaknesses of the judiciary in protecting its independence and accountability, the letter said.
It is in such context that the need for National Judicial Commission arises, having comprehensive powers for selection, appointment, transfer and enquiry into the misdemeanour and misconduct of judges of the constitutional courts, the AILU office-bearers observed.
