SC denies media reports on action against sitting judge

New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a statement denying media reports that action is likely to be taken by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde in connection with allegations against a senior sitting judge of the top court.The statement issued by the Supreme Court said: "Media has recently been reporting about complaints making insinuations against members of the higher judiciary and that action is likely to be taken by the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court is being quoted as the source of the information."The apex court has clarified that all in-house procedures are confidential in nature and no information is released in these matters in the public domain. "It is clarified once and for all that inquiries under the 'In-house Procedure' being totally and wholly confidential in nature, the Supreme Court never releases information in matters incidental thereto," the statement said.The statement from the top court has come after recent reports stating that the Chief Justice has sought an explanation from Justice N.V. Ramana, who is next-in-line to be Chief Justice, in connection with allegations levelled against him by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy .In October, Reddy had written a letter to the Chief Justice levelling various allegations against Justice Ramana, as well as the Chief Justice and several other judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Reddy had alleged that the AP High Court was being used to destabilise and topple his democratically-elected government. It was also reported that Reddy had made this complaint on affidavit before the top court.In December last year, the top court collegium had recommended to the government the transfer of four chief justices of high courts including AP High Court Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari.
--IANS ss/kr