Lawyer lodges complaint against SC judge before the CJI, gets stern warning

India's top court witnessed dramatic exchanges between a Lucknow-based lawyer and the Chief Justice of India on Tuesday (Jul 9) after the former lodged a complaint against another Supreme Court judge before the latter.

The lawyer, Ashok Pandey, who has been taken to task repeatedly for filing frivolous petitions, was rebuked by aSC bench for not paying $600 (INR 50,000) cost imposed on him for filing a plea challenging the appointment of Supreme Court advocates as High Court judges.

"You are a practising lawyer, and after you have told the court you will pay Rs 50,000 in costs, you thereafter go abroad. Now you cannot say that you can't pay a cost of Rs 50,000," a bench of Justices AS Oka and George Masih told Pandey.

Pandey replied that he had not taken any case since 2023 and that the foreign trip was financed by his kids. But the bench refused to entertain his request, ordering him to cough up the required amount within a week or two.

Later, he was reprimanded by another bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan for non-payment of INR 100,000 ($1,200) costimposed last year in connection with his appeal against the restoration of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership.

Following thearguments with the two benches, Ashok Pandey approached the CJI and alleged misconduct by Justice Gavai.

CJI DY Chandrachud in turn cautioned the lawyer against levelling 'baseless' allegations against his colleague.

"You cannot make allegations like this on the judges of the bench. They never misbehave with lawyers. If you want to challenge the fines, file a review," he said.

He acknowledged that heated arguments sometimes do take place but advised Pandey against making outright allegations. He added that frivolous PILs filed by lawyers often end up damaging the public's interests and taxpayers' money.

(With inputs from agencies)