Congress questions Modi for sending his Principal Secretary to CJI

Congress on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why he sent his Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra to Chief Justice Dipak Misra's residence a day after four senior judges told the media that all was not well with the Supreme Court.

"As PM's Principal Secretary, Nripendra Misra visits CJI's residence at 5, Krishna Menon Marg; PM must answer the reason for sending this special messenger to Chief Justice of India," tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The development came a day after Justice J. Chelameswar along with three other sitting senior Supreme Court judges took on Justice Misra over the allocation of benches, among other issues.

On Friday, in an unprecedented move, the four senior-most judges in the Supreme Court burst out in the open and accused the Chief Justice of not strictly adhering to the rules in assigning cases to appropriate benches, which they said could create "doubts" about the integrity of the top court.

Speaking to the media at the residence of Justice Chelameswar, the judges said the Supreme Court administration was "not in order" and released an undated letter they wrote to Justice Misra in which they conceded that the CJI was the "master of the roster" but this was "not a recognition of any superior authority, legal or factual, of the Chief Justice over his colleagues".

The four judges were Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and Madan B. Lokur, besides Justice Chelameswar.