Judge Loya Case : Supreme Court asks to see all documents

The Judge BH Loya case was one of the main triggers for Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph going public with their criticism of the way cases are assigned by the Chief Justice

Describing it as "serious", the Supreme Court today asked for all documents related to the Judge BH Loya case and said it would look into it "in a fair way". Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra lost his temper and two senior lawyers had a high-pitched argument in a dramatic hour-long hearing in the top court on petitions asking for an independent investigation into the death of Judge Loya of a heart attack in 2014, at a time he was hearing a murder case against BJP president Amit Shah.

"Let us have full documents, let our conscience not feel that we didn't look at some documents," said Judge DY Chandrachud, who is also in the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.The judges also asked for all documents from the Bombay Lawyers' Association, which has filed a petition related to the case at the High Court.

You will never do it   I said on the other day don't gag the Press. I am really hurt," he said. Dushyant Dave, representing the lawyers' group, said his clients have documents on the Loya case through Right To Information (RTI) that must be looked into. He said "as of today", Judge Loya's death was natural. "If it is a natural death, as of today let us not cast aspersions," said Justice Chandrachud.

A huge argument broke out in court when Mr Dave said senior lawyer Harish Salve should not represent the Maharashtra government as he had appeared for Amit Shah before. "It is conflict of interest," said Mr Dave. Mr Salve retorted, "I don't want any certificate from Dave. "The Loya case was first assigned to a bench that four senior judges had believed was not suitable. A bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, which took up the case last week, referred it to an "appropriate bench", after which the Chief Justice took over.

The Loya case was one of the main triggers  for Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph going public with their criticism of the Chief Justice and indicating that he was abusing his position as "master of roster" by assigning "cases with far reaching consequences" to junior judges. Chief Justice Misra reached out to the judges, who rank after him in seniority, and held discussions twice last week - once in the presence of four other judges. "The ice is melting," said sources about the judges' talks, but there is no formal resolution yet.