CJI DY Chandrachud Explains Why Satyendar Jain's Bail Plea Was Listed Before Justice Bela Trivedi's Bench

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday (December 14) clarified the bail application of Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain was assigned to a bench led by Justice Bela Trivedi since Justice AS Bopanna was not available due to health reasons.

Just this morning, Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi raised an objection regarding the listing of Jain's petition, saying that the matter was earlier heard by Justice Bopanna's bench.

Later in the day, after the court reconvened post-lunch, CJI Chandrachud clarified the situation. He disclosed a communication from the office of Justice Bopanna, explaining that due to medical reasons, he hadn't resumed duties after the Diwali vacations. He stated that Justice Bopanna had requested that all matters he had heard be kept as "de-part heard." Consequently, the case was assigned to Justice Trivedi, who was the other member of the bench when Justice Bopanna heard the matter last. 

Addressing the allegations, CJI Chandrachud stated–

"It's very easy to fling allegations and letters. There is a communication from the office of Justice Bopanna. Due to medical reasons, he didn't resume duties after Diwali. He stated that all matters which were heard by him should be kept as de-part heard. Therefore this matter was assigned to Justice Trivedi who had last heard the matter. The reason why Justice Trivedi has to hear the matter is because there is an application for an extension of interim bail...I thought I'll clarify it...find it surprising for any member of bar to say that I want this particular judge."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta added that he believed that such letters should be ignored and not be dignified with a response. He said–

"Dr Singhvi would never do that but the only thing I'll say is that the only way to deal with such malicious letters is by ignoring them. Don't dignify them."

Previously, the Tamil Nadu Vigilance Director had written to the SC Registry objecting to the listing of an appeal before Justice Trivedi's bench on the ground that the matter was previously heard by Justice Aniruddha Bose's bench. Last week, Advocate Prashant Bhushan wrote to the SC registry alleging irregularities in the listing of UAPA pleas before Justice Trivedi's bench. A common ground of objection taken in these instances is that as per the SC rules, when a bench combination changes, the matter should follow the bench of the senior judge of that bench.

Last week,  Sr. Adv. Dushyant Dave had written an open letter to CJI Chandrachud about that change of benches in 'sensitive matters', stating that listing rules were being disregarded by the Registry. Being the master of the roster, he had requested the CJI to rectify the errors in listing. Recently, Advocate Prashant Bhushan wrote to the registry seeking reasons for the deletion of the judges' appointment matter from the list of Justice SK Kaul's bench.