I-Day celebrations at SC premises for first time

New Delhi, Aug 15: For the first time in the history of the Supreme Court, Independence Day was celebrated on the apex court premises today.

Chief Justice Of India Y K Sabharwal unfurled the national flag on the occasion and congratulated the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for organising the function on the apex court lawns.

The function was attended, among others, by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who is also a senior lawyer.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Chatterjee said, ''There is no confrontation between Parliament and the Judiciary and the impression created about the confrontation is wrong.'' Justice Sabharwal also shared the same sentiment and said both the pillars of democracy were doing their own job.

The function was also attended by Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court judges, both sitting and retired, and the members of the Bar. However, none of the ministers and MPs, who are the members of the SCBA, turned up at the function. There are eight ministers in the UPA Council of Ministers who are senior members of the SCBA.

Invitees who failed to show up included Union Ministers -- Mr H R Bharadwaj, Mr P Chidambaram, Mr Kapil Sibal, Mr Pawan Bansal -- and AICC Spokesman Abishek Manu Singhvi, former Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Mr Ram Jethmalani, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ms Sushma Swaraj.

UNI