It has been a month since YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India S A Bobde alleging that Supreme Court judge Justice N V Ramana was using some state high court judges to "destabilise and topple" his democratically elected government in collusion with Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
Four days after writing the letter to the CJI, Ajeya Kallam, Press Advisor of the Government of Andhra Pradesh made the contents of the letter public in a subsequent press conference.
So far, the CJI has not taken any decision on Jagan’s letter, though several legal experts and senior journalists have written articles both for and against Jagan’s alleged confrontation with the judiciary, particularly targeting Ramana, who is likely to take over as new CJI in April next year.
There have been demands from some sections of lawyers that the CJI should take quick action on the letter written by Jagan by appointing an internal committee to probe the allegations levelled against Ramana.
There have also been demands from other sections of lawyers that Jagan be prosecuted for the contempt of court.
BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay even wrote to Attorney General KK Venugopal, seeking his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Reddy and his advisor.
He alleged that the letter by Jagan "scandalises" the authority of both the Supreme Court and the High Court and interferes with judicial proceedings and the administration of justice.
Though Venugopal agreed with Upadhyay, he declined to give his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against them, saying the CJI was seized of the matter.
The option before the CJI is to constitute a committee and order a probe the allegations against Ramana or to initiate contempt proceedings against Jagan for making allegations against judiciary.
“In any case, Bobde cannot completely ignore Jagan’s letter and should come out with a decision at the earliest. In any case, there should be some outcome of the probe before April, since nothing can be done after Justice Ramana becomes the CJI,” a legal expert said.
