CJI Dipak Misra to hear Justice Loya case amid SC crisis

The two petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of Special CBI Judge Brijmohan Loya will be heard by a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

The move comes days after Justice Arun Mishra headed SC bench recused itself from hearing the case.

The composition of the bench was changed on Saturday amid the rift between the CJI and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court over allocation of cases.

Judge Loya, then presiding over the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, died in Nagpur on 1 December, 2014. Current BJP president Amit Shah was named in the case but, in late December the same year, he was discharged by the court.

Posting this case before Justice Arun Mishra's bench was apparently the trigger that had led the four senior-most judges to come out openly against the Chief Justice of India.

The written order, which was released later that evening, ordered the matter be "put up before the appropriate bench." This fuelled speculation that the judges had recused themselves from hearing the matter.

Four top judges of the Supreme Court Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had held an unprecedented press conference the previous week in which they cited differences with the CJI on the assignment of the Loya case.

OneIndia News