HC Bar vs Justice Rao reaches Supreme Court, President

'Justice Rao was never punctual, functioned arbitrarily, used ippropriate expressions against bar members'

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, August 24: The bitter conflict between the Gauhati High Court Bar Association and Chief Justice (acting) K Shreedhar Rao have reached the doors of Supreme Court and Rashtrapati Bhavan, as the lawyers’ body sought Justice Rao’s removal charging him with being unpunctual and functioning arbitrarily.

In their petitions to President Prab Mukherjee and Chief Justice of India HL Dattu, the bar association also questioned as to why Justice Rao did not take any “appropriate action” against a lawyer who had allegedly offered him Rs 5 crore in the case of Rose Valley Hotels and Entertainment Limited.

“Justice Rao vouched for his integrity and boasted that he had refused an offer of Rs 5 crore made to him by an advocate friend of his son from Kartaka High Court in the case of Rose Valley Hotels and Entertainment Limited which was heard and decided by the division bench of Justice Rao and Justice PK Saikia,” the bar association’s memorandum said.

Though the judgment in the Rose Valley case was delivered on June 25, a certified copy of the judgment was not furnished to the parties though it has been applied for. “It is also difficult to understand as to why Justice Rao did not take any appropriate action against the erring advocate who had allegedly made such an offer,” it stated.

The bar further alleged that Justice Rao was never punctual and “he sat late and rose early.” “He also developed a habit of leaving for Banglaore almost every weekend and returning late on Monday,” they said, also complaining the use of “highly ippropriate expressions” used by Justice Rao against the bar members. The bar association also alleged that Justice Rao “arbitrarily” transferred all the PILs from the respective benches to the principal seat despite protests by the lawyers association.

The Chief Justice of India has deputed a panel of senior judges to look into the conflict between the bar and Justice Rao.

Meanwhile, the bar association has decided to continue with its boycott of Justice Rao’s court till the SC panel gives its opinion on Tuesday.