Supreme Court to revisit order barring Allahabad HC judge from criminal cases

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan will take up the matter again, with people aware of the matter confirming that CJI Gavai met Justice Pardiwala on Wednesday evening to express institutional unease over the rare direction to de-roster a constitutional court judge by way of a judicial order.

“The meeting ran for around half an hour. The CJI is learnt to have conveyed to the judge who authored the ruling that some of the directions may need tweaking in the larger interest of the institution and deference to the autonomy of high courts and their chief justices,” said one of the persons familiar with the development.

This person added that CJI Gavai, while not disputing the gravity of the error in Justice Kumar’s ruling, was of the view that the remedy might have encroached on the high court’s administrative domain. “The decision to revisit the matter is thus aimed at striking a balance between judicial discipline and constitutional propriety.”