A Matter of Perception

The Bar Council of India (BCI) slammed Justice Madan B Lokur, former judge of the Supreme Court, for allegedly undermining the authority of the judiciary. In a press release on May 30, the BCI said that Justice Lokur’s recent comments were a concerted attack to weaken and browbeat the institution.

The president of BCI, Manan Kumar Mishra, said that “some unhappy and disgruntled members of the bar” were using social media and the electronic and print media to “castigate and scandalise the judiciary by imputing baseless motives on Supreme Court judges”. Criticising recent comments by Justice Lokur on the handling of the migrant issue by the Supreme Court, the BCI termed them “idle talk” to undermine the authority of the judiciary.

The Council further stated that Justice Lokur was heard “giving sermons that no one from the Bench and Bar should ever indulge in an act that would shake the faith of the public in judiciary. Now, he himself becoming part of these misguided group of people is a mind-boggling departure by him of his own much hyped principles”.

Moreover, the BCI said that as the Court was seized of this matter, making such comments against the judges is nothing but an attempt to influence the Court to toe a particular line which would fulfil the agenda to defame the government which is grappling with the issue of ameliorating the suffering of the common man.

The BCI said that such an act had made the common man believe that “these retired judges who could not get a suitable berth after their superannuation, become disgruntled and start going to media and malign the system of which they were integral part for quite long period”. It said such judges should join politics and face the common masses directly, where they would deal with them properly.

After his retirement, Justice Lokur has been vocal in criticising the Supreme Court, especially the manner in which it dealt with the plight of migrants during the lockdown. In a recent interview, Justice Lokur said that the Supreme Court deserves an “F” grade for its handling of the migrant issue. This was not received well by a section of the Bar and the Bench.

The BCI circular also condemned the comments of a senior advocate of the Supreme Court against an order of the judiciary. The comments said the order was arbitrary and against the principle of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution. The BCI said the senior advocate should have read Article 14 before removing the secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). This was a reference to a May 8 resolution passed by the SCBA where Ashok Arora was suspended from the post of secretary. This was after he circulated a message among SCBA members to remove Dushyant Dave from the post of president for passing a resolution condemning Justice Arun Mishra’s public remark praising PM Narendra Modi. Ever since then, the SCBA and the BCI have been at loggerheads on the suspension issue.