Attorney General K.K. Venugopal wants the differences between senior judges in the Supreme Court to end on Saturday. Speaking exclusively to THE WEEK, Venugopal said he is trying his utmost to end the crisis.
"These are all distinguished judges. They are all good people. I hope the controversy will end today. But, then, that is only my hope," said Venugopal to THE WEEK.
Venugopal said he will not attend any more calls from the media till the crisis is resolved. "I have said what I had to say. You are the last person I am talking to on this matter," he told THE WEEK.
In an unprecedented act on Friday, four senior judges of the Supreme Court—Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph—accused Chief Justice Dipak Misra of allocating cases to judges of his choice without any logic.
Justice Chelameswar said they had collectively tried to persuade Misra to take remedial measures but he did not listen to them.
Said Chelameswar, "We do not want wise men to say 20 years later that we sold their souls and did not take care of the interests of this illustrious institution."
Rahul Gandhi, Congress president, said the issues raised by the judges were extremely important and need to be addressed at the earliest.
Sources in the Union government said that the issues highlighted by the judges were an internal matter of the judiciary and the judiciary needs to sort it out.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the developments in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, CPI leader D. Raja’s visit to Justice Chelameswar’s residence, shortly after the judge had led a revolt, has created a controversy. Rejecting allegations, Raja said his visit was in a personal capacity.
