Lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, on whose Public Interest Litigation the Apex Court had ordered Special Courts for cases against MPs & MLAs, wrote Thursday to CJI S A Bobde, urging him to call a meeting of the full Court in the wake of Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s letter to the CJI & a press conference levelling charges against Justice N V Ramana. Slamming the CM for his “blatant attempt to shake the confidence of the public at large in the judiciary,” Upadhyay said, “Reddy has crossed the line which separates Judiciary & Executive”.

Upadhyay sent the letter on the day more Bar associations condemned Reddy’s remarks & rallied behind Justice Ramana who is next in line to be the CJI. His plea, filed in 2016 with a view to check criminalisation of politics by fast-tracking criminal cases against sitting & former legislators, is currently being heard by a bench headed by Justice Ramana.

In his letter, Upadhyay alleged “serious cases of corruption, black money, benami property & disproportionate assets are pending against Mr Reddy & his colleagues”.

Referring to an analysis by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), his letter stated, “Reddy & his colleagues are facing serious charges of crime & corruption, which would have landed any ordinary man in jail for at least 10 years, if sentenced concurrently, & for more than thirty years, if sentenced consecutively.”

He pointed out that he had also filed other PILs, including one seeking ban on a convicted person from forming a political party and/or becoming political office bearer, another seeking consecutive sentencing of the corrupt, still another to bring national & state-recognised political parties under the ambit of the RTI Act, which are all pending in Court.

Upadhyay alleged that “The letter (by Reddy) & press conference is no more than a dishonest & mischievous attempt to pressurize the judiciary, when above stated PILs are likely to be heard for final disposal. The letter was released in public domain not only to derail the above matters but also to intimidate judicial proceedings. In fact, Mr Reddy is not only indulging in bench-hunting but also wants the Apex Court to stop hearing these cases".

"This is not a silly mischievous deceitful act but a deliberate fraudulent & calculated attempt to not only undermine the Apex Court but also to terrorise the Judiciary. Therefore, I request to call ‘Full Court Meeting to discuss the Issue’ & take appropriate stern steps in order to give a strong message, so that no one can even think of using such deceitful & fraudulent tactics against the judiciary in future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) has backed the Supreme Court Advocates-On-Record Association (SCAORA) resolution expressing “deep anguish” over the contents of the letter written by the Chief Minister, & its “unwarranted release” in public.

Association General Secretary & Advocate Prerna Kumari in a statement said that “SCWLA condemns in the strongest terms what appears to be an attempt to malign the reputation of the Learned Judge & the dignity of the Institution, thus shaking the confidence reposed in the institution by the people of India as also worldwide".

In a press release, BCI Chairman & Senior Lawyer Manan Kumar Mishra said the “Council is aghast & appalled at the reprehensible move by the” Chief Minister “to target” Justice Ramana & “several judges of Andhra Pradesh High Court, including its Chief Justice… with the sole aim to undermine the independence of the judiciary & browbeat judges to suit his own purposes”.

The release said that “The fact that Justice Ramana is next in line to be the Chief Justice of India makes the intentions of these people more obvious".

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Picture Source : <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shri_Y._S._Jaganmohan_Reddy_Chief_Minister_Of_Andhra_Pradesh.jpg">YS JAGAN</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons