The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has objected to the “extraordinary” inclusion of the petition filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Manoranjan Goswami, and has asked the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to disclose whether there is any order or direction to include the matter was issued by the Chief Justice of India in this regard.
SCBA President and Chief Advocate Dushyant Dave, in a communication dated Tuesday to Supreme Court Secretary General Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar, said: “I am addressing this letter to you (Secretary General) as SCBA President to present a strong protest regarding the issue that has been listed for tomorrow (Wednesday) … I am not writing this letter to interfere in any way with your (Goswami’s) rights to move the Supreme Court … The serious issue here it is the selective list of matters that the Registry under his leadership is indulging in for the past eight months during the Covid-19 pandemic. “
The communication (although it does not have official letterhead) said: “It is deeply disturbing to know how and why every time Mr. Goswami approaches the Supreme Court, his issue is instantly listed.” Dave complained that he received complaints from a number of registered advocates (AoRs) that “the matters presented by them are not listed for weeks and months, although they are very urgent and involve serious issues requiring urgent Court intervention, including bail matters. “.
Goswami had approached the high court against a Bombay High Court order passed Monday rejecting provisional bail in a 2018 suicide incitement case. Dave said: “The matter was shelved yesterday, got a newspaper number instant, though not final, and is included tomorrow. It is a serious abuse of administrative power, whoever has exercised it in the administrative aspect. It gives the impression that clients represented by certain lawyers are receiving special treatment, which does not speak well of the great Institution that is the Supreme Court ”.
The letter goes on to say that “it is well known that such extraordinarily urgent lists of issues cannot and are not carried out without specific orders from the Chief Justice of India”, as he wanted to know if any specific orders were issued in this regard. by CJI.
Without specifying which cases were extraordinarily enumerated, the SCBA president referred to the case of the arrest of the leader of Congress, P Chidambaram, who was unable to obtain a “similar speed list” and had to spend long months in jail until the Supreme Court granted him bail. . Dave asked why this was happening even though the listing process was computerized. He also questioned how matters are circulating with a few banks.
Dave demanded that until all issues brought by various AORs with urgent listing requests are listed by November 10, Goswami’s issue should not be dealt with and he is requested to present this letter to the court that will handle the case of Goswami on Wednesday.
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