What Justice Chelameshwar and other senior Supreme Court judges said in open meet today

In an unprecedented move, four senior judges of the Supreme Court today held an open press conference where they said that the administration of the apex court is "sometimes not in order" and many "less than desirable things" have taken place.

The four judges who spoke out today were Justice J Chelameswar, the second senior most judge in the Supreme Court, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Kurien Joseph.

Here are the highlights of what the judges said:

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Justice J Chelameswar:

• We thought we were a repository team, we thought to persuade the Chief Justice of India that certain things were not in order and we need to do something
• We wanted to change things that raised doubts on the integrity of this precious institution
• The hallmark of a good democracy is an independent judiciary
• Unless the institution of Supreme Court is preserved, our democracy will not survive
• Many less than desirable things have happened in the judiciary in the last few months compelling us to hold this open meet because we owe a responsibility to the nation
• Couple of months back, the four of us went to the CJI and gave him a signed letter. We wanted something to be done - it was done but in a way that raised more questions
• We again met the CJI this morning. We had doubts about handling of certain cases and asked him to do something. But he again ignored us.

Reporter interjects and asks question: Is it about death of Justice Loya?

Justice Ranjan Gogoi

• Yes