HVK Archives: IE: "Ahmadi and trial spark lawyers' protests"
IE: "Ahmadi and trial spark lawyers' protests" - The Indian Express
PTI
()
2 October 1996
Title : Ahmadi and trial spark lawyers' protests
Author : PTI
Publication : The Indian Express
Date : October 2, 1996
Over 200 members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) have
questioned the propriety of the Chief Justice of India, A M Ahmadi
allegedly having a "mysterious" midnight meeting with Prime Minister H D
Deve Gowda at a time when the apex judiciary was seized of several sensa-
tional cases involving high political functionaries.
The members in a signed requisition letter have demanded an immediate
general body meeting of the SCBA to discuss the issue.
A draft resolution circulated among the members of the apex court Bar said
the Judiciary and Executive were two independent organs and were expected
to function without any interference from each other.
"The midnight meeting which was supposed to have lasted for two hours has
put a question mark on the independence of the Judiciary," the resolution
said.
The resolution further said that, "In all fairness the Chief Justice of
India should have avoided the meeting keeping in view the highest
traditions of the institu- tion."
In another significant development, the Bar Association said that it would
oppose any move by the Delhi Police, Special Protection Group (SPG) and
Central Government to change the trial venue of former Prime Minister P V
Narasimha Rao from the Tis Hazari courts to any other place in the
Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case.
Taking strong exception to Law Minister Ramakant Khalap writing a letter
to CBI director to instruct CBI counsel not to oppose the bail plea of Rao
in the case, Jatan Singh, Secretary-General of coordination committee of
all Bar Associations of Delhi, said that the president should dismiss
Khalap from the Council of Ministers.
He said that the coordination committee was of the opin- ion that the move
of the government was to delay the trial and 'help" Rao in the case.
Singh said that all Bar Associations of Delhi had sug- gested that if the
trial was held in Tis Hazari at 7.30 am, there should not be any problem
with regard to security.
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