The Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition on Wednesday, which had challenged the appointment of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI).
After noting that the petition was completely misconceived, the Bench of CJI U.U. Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Bela M. Trivedi disposed of the same.
The matter was mentioned before the CJI this morning by Advocate Mursalin Asijit Shaikh, seeking urgent hearing in the case.
The Apex Court agreed to hear the petition, which was not part of today’s Causelist, at 12:45 pm, after considering the nature of relief sought for in the same.
The petitioner sought contempt of court and other criminal actions against Justice Chandrachud, alleging that he had acted in ‘wilful disregard’ and ‘deliberate defiance’ of binding precedents of larger benches of the Supreme Court and denied justice to deserving litigants on 12 occasions.
The plea said Justice Chandrachud took up a case related to his son’s client and passed an ex-parte order without issuing notice to the respondents, including the state government.
Talking of another case, the petitioner contended that it had already been highlighted by one Rashid Khan Pathan, who had forwarded a complaint to both the CJI and the President on the same.
The complaint, which was made available on social media and WhatsApp groups by the complainant, received strong reaction from the Bar Council of India and several other Bar Associations, which issued public statements, condemning the allegations and discarding them as baseless.
The plea also prayed for a direction to the Central government to refrain from appointing him as the CJI.
(Case title: Mursalin Asijit Shaikh vs Union of India)