Allahabad High Court to file petition against apex court

ALLAHABAD - In an unheard of move, the Allahabad High Court has decided to move a petition against the Supreme Court for certain derogatory remarks the apex court’s Justice Markanday Katju made against the high court, informed sources said here Friday.

This decision follows a highly confidential closed-door meeting of nearly all 71 high court judges at Allahabad Nov 27, barely a day after Justice Katju blasted the Allahabad High Court in an open court.

During the course of hearing an appeal Nov 26, Justice Katju observed: “Something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court… Some judges have their kith and kin practicing in the same court and within a few years of starting their practice, the sons or relatives of such judges become multi-millionaires.”

“A lot of complaints are coming against certain judges of Allahabad High Court relating to their integrity,” he added.

Taking strong exception to the remarks of Justice Katju, judges of the Allahabad High Court decided to hold a meeting of the full court, where some of the judges were said to have minced no words in their reaction to the stinging observation.

A number of the judges sitting at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court also went all the way to Allahabad to attend the meeting.

Subsequently, the judges resolved to send the high court’s registrar general to the Supreme Court to assess how best the issue could be raised before the apex court.

“The high hourt eventually decided to file a curative petition, seeking expunging of the objectionable remarks by the Supreme Court judge,” the source said.

What has also irked thousands of lawyers of the Allahabad High Court Bar was the fact that Justice Katju ignored the corrective action that had already been taken by the high court in that very case he was hearing.

“A division bench of the Allahabad High Court itself had quashed the controversial order of a single judge bench over which Justice Katju had reacted,” a senior advocate here said.

“What was even more strange was that Justice Katjus remarks came after he himself upheld the judgment of the division bench of Allahabad High Court,” remarked the lawyer, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “In fact, the corrective action taken by the high court should have been appreciated,” he added.