The Hindu : Front Page : Stay on swearing-in of judge declined

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Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Stay on swearing-in of judge declined

Legal Correspondent

Plea against elevation of S.L. Bhayana citing ruling in Jessica Lal case

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay the swearing-in of S.L. Bhayana as a judge of the Delhi High Court slated for Tuesday on the ground that he had acquitted all the nine accused in the Jessica Lal murder case.

A three-judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice C.K. Thakker and Justice R.V. Raveendran, told advocate Ashok Arora, who pleaded for such a stay, "you must know the limits to which you can go. Don't try to destroy the institution by bringing in such matters."

Mr. Arora on Sunday wrote a letter to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam seeking his intervention to stop the elevation of Mr. Bhayana.

He told the Bench that the High Court collegium had found the judge incompetent in 2004 and he was now being elevated as a quid pro quo for the acquittal of all the accused in the Jessica Lal case. He said the appointment must be kept in abeyance till he was cleared by a four-member committee, comprising former Chief Justices J.S. Verma and V.N. Khare, and senior counsel Fali S. Nariman and P.P. Rao. However, the Bench refused to interfere in the matter, saying "simply because he has passed the judgment you cannot override the collegium of the High Court and the Supreme Court, the Law Minister, the Prime Minister and the President. You know the procedure and you cannot conduct a media trial like this. This is all for media publicity. You must know the limit."

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