SC says no to early hearing of plea seeking ban on reporting on judges’ controversy

The plea sought to restrain “the printing, discussion, politicisation and debate on the matter with immediate effect to control further damage to the institution

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea seeking to restrain the media from publishing, discussing and politicising issues raised by four senior-most judges in the January 12 press conference.

Supreme Court judges had in an unprecedented presser on January 12 raised several issue allegedly afflicting the country’s highest court. (Arvind Yadav/HT file photo)

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said it will look into the matter only after the apex court registry takes the petition on record and lists it for hearing.

The plea, which mentioned urgent listing and hearing, sought to restrain “the printing, discussion, politicisation and debate on the subject matter of the press conference dated January 12 with immediate effect to control further damage to the institution”.

Four senior-most judges -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- had in an unprecedented presser on January 12 raised a litany of problems, including the assigning of cases in the apex court, and said there were certain issues afflicting the country’s highest court.