Justice Mishra-led bench asks CJI to put Loya's case before 'appropriate bench'

New Delhi: In a dramatic twist in the ongoing strife in the Supreme Court, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra on Tuesday ordered that the PIL seeking an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya be put up before an “appropriate bench”.

“Let the documents be placed on record within seven days and if it is considered appropriate, copies be furnished to the petitioners. Put up before the appropriate bench,” the bench of Justices Mishra and Mohan M Shantanagoudar said, triggering speculation that they were preparing to recuse themselves from the case.

The order of the bench, which has been under glare since Friday when the four most senior SC judges cited the CJI’s decision to entrust it with the PIL on Loya’s death as one of the provocations for their revolt, was interpreted as its disinclination to hear the politically sensitive case.


The stand of Justices Mishra and Shantanagoudar came a day after the former’s emotional outburst at the customary morning meeting of SC judges on Monday. According to eyewitness accounts, the judge took on the four seniormost judges – all members of the collegium – for ruining his reputation by painting his bench as the “bench of preference” to which CJI Misra would invariably turn in sensitive cases.

He also said he had made it to the top court on the strength of his knowledge of the Constitution and law and deserved better from his seniors. But for all the strain that he had appeared to be under on Monday, Mishra looked dispassionate on Tuesday morning when he, along with Shantanagoudar, took up the PIL on Loya’s death.

He asked the Maharashtra government to hand over copies of all documents and medical reports relating to Loya’s death to the petitioners.

Study documents before next Loya hearing, says SC
At the time of his death, on December 1, 2014, Judge Loya was hearing the case of the alleged fake encounter of inter-state gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh in which BJP chief Amit Shah was an accused along with several others. Shah was subsequently discharged from the case.

During Tuesday’s proceedings in the SC, the Mishra-led bench said the petitioners should go through the documents before arguing the case. It also said the case would be heard after a week. “It is a matter where they (petitioners) should know everything if there is no confidentiality,” the bench said and asked the state to provide them copies of all documents.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Maharashtra, readily accepted the court’s suggestion and said the state had no objection in giving the reports to the petitioners. He, however, asked the petitioners not to make them public.

Loya’s case was one of the many contentious issues brought up on Friday by the mutinous four, who had called an unprecedented press conference to express their displeasure at the way the CJI was allotting cases, allegedly to benches of his preference.

After the controversy, Loya’s family on Sunday said they did not want to be victims of politicisation and urged all parties to refrain from taking advantage of the situation. Judge Loya’s son, Anuj, said there was nothing suspicious in his father’s death. “We have no suspicion over my father’s death. I had suspicions earlier but now it is over,” he said, adding that he did not want any probe.