The central government appoints the Chief Justice of India based on seniority. But this convention was breached two times (in 1973 and 1977) when senior judges were bypassed and pliable junior judges were appointed to the office of the CJI by the Indira Gandhi government.
The letter was signed by former judges of the apex court Justices B Sudarshan Reddy, V Gopala Gowda and AK Ganguly, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court AP Shah, former judge of Madras High Court Justice K Chandru, and former judge of Karnataka High Court Mohammed Anwar.