Supreme Court Reserves Judgment On Justice Eswaraiah's Plea To Set Aside AP High Court Order For Enquiry Into His Alleged Phone Call On 'Conspiracy' Against SC Judge

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgment on a petition filed by former AP High Court judge V Eswaraiah against an order of the AP HC ordering judicial enquiry into an alleged phone conversation between him and a District Judge plotting "conspiracy" against HC CJ and a sitting SC judge. A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy said that it will consider Eswaraiah's request to set aside the High Court order on the ground that the same was passed without hearing him, and without giving him any notice of the proceedings. During the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for Justice Easwariah submitted that the High Court has passed the impugned order in a "strange" manner, while hearing an unconnected petition. He said, "Here what the HC has done is that...they were hearing a matter related to a death of a HC staff due to COVID due to non-following of protocols in HC. In that case, a suspended district judge files an impleading petition and produces the alleged conversation between him and Easwariah." After hearing both the parties, Justice Bhushan said that if the High Court wants to proceed, it may do so after giving notice to Justice Easwariah. "His (Justice Easwariah) grievance is that the order was passed without hearing him," Justice Bhushan noted. However, when Bhushan insisted that the order ought to be set aside for having been passed without hearing the concerned party, Justice Bhushan responded that he will consider this submission. Veracity of transcripts During the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan contended that a case of criminal conspiracy is not made out on a perusal of the entire transcript and alleged that the recordings produced by the suspended District Judge were tampered. He submitted, "I have filed a correct transcript of the conversation. It is a private conversation. The District Judge has taken it to the media. I have said that there is no criminal conspiracy in the converations." Bhushan submitted that the conversation between Easwariah and the District Judge was three fold: Easwariah asked about Judge's suspensionEaswariah cajoled and consoled the JudgeThey spoke about allegations of Amaravati land scam, in which the relatives of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court were accused. He insisted that nothing about the above said conversation should be a matter of enquiry and yet, if the Court decides to proceed with the matter and examine the private conversation, then there should be an enquiry into the whole thing. "I have talked about certain land transactions by a sitting judge of this Court. Enquire into that too," Bhushan submitted. Interventions The Court also heard some interventions filed through Senior Advocate Harish Salve and Kapil Sibal. They alleged that the transcripts submitted by Easwariah are edited out and sought time to file affidavits. "I have prepared a chart and I will file it next week, showing what has been missed out. And what has been missed out is really really serious," Sibal urged.Prashant Bhushan opposed the intereventions by Sibal and Salve by saying that they are mala fide."At whose behest they are appearing. Who are paying their fees?", Bhushan asked.However the bench said that it will not go into that question. The bench also observed that it cannot hold an enquiry into what has been missed out and not missed out from the transcript.Salve submitted that the petitioner was using the opportunity given to him by the Court to "push his agenda by making allegations against a Supreme Court judge".BackgroundThe Supreme Court had last month required Justice Eswaraiah to file regarding alleged private phone conversation with Mr. S. Ramakrishna, a suspended District Munsif Magistrate of Andhra Pradesh, into which an inquiry has been ordered by the High Court.The High Court requested former Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran to enquire into the matter. After it was alleged that the phone call disclosed a "serious conspiracy" against the High Court Chief Justice and a senior sitting Judge of the Supreme Court, the Andhra Pradesh High directed an investigation by a retired Supreme Court judge into it, against which order Justice Eswaraiah has moved the top court. In his affidavit, through advocate Prashant Bhushan, he, however, admits that the suspended District Munsif Magistrate had called him over WhatsApp on 20th of July, 2020, but that he does not know from which phone number he had called. He also denies the contention that he had, through his PA, required the said Magistrate to call him. "I cannot say that the conversation as contained in the pen drive is the exact conversation. The voice appears to be mine and therefore, that part of what I have purported to have said appears to be correct. It is, however, possible that some parts of the conversation that took place have been edited out. Therefore,...

Supreme Court Reserves Judgment On Justice Eswaraiah's Plea To Set Aside AP High Court Order For Enquiry Into His Alleged Phone Call On 'Conspiracy' Against SC Judge

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Supreme Court Reserves Judgment On Justice Eswaraiah's Plea To Set Aside AP High Court Order For Enquiry Into His Alleged Phone Call On 'Conspiracy' Against SC Judge

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