The Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Monday schooled a lawyer in court etiquette who was seeking an inhouse inquiry against former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. While hearing the lawyer mentioning his plea, CJI DY Chandrachud asked the lawyer to not say “Ya, Ya, Ya” while replying to the bench’s query and instead say “Yes, Yes, Yes”.
CJI Chandrachud told the lawyer that he is allergic to people using “Ya” in court.
“This is not a coffee shop…I am very allergic to this ya ya ya. This cannot be allowed in court. Say, yes, yes yes.” CJI told the lawyer.
The lawyer immediately apologised and continued to make his submissions. But, he fumbled again and used the ‘Ya’ while responding to CJI. The CJI then again politely reminded him to not use ‘Ya’.
The counsel had filed a petition in 2018 seeking an in-house inquiry against former CJI Ranjan Gogoi.
Taking note of the same CJI Chandrachud said Justice Gogoi is a retired judge now, and the court cannot order inquiries like this. The CJI said that since the review petition filed against the SUpreme Court judgment is already dismissed, the petitioner will have to file a curative petition now.
“There has to be some dignity, you cannot just ask for an inhouse inquiry against the judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Ranjan Gogoi was a former judge of the Supreme Court, sorry we cannot tolerate this…”
The lawyer however, persisted saying that there is merit in his case. CJI Chandrachud told the counseld that Justice Gogoi was a former judge of this court and you cannot file a plea like this against a judge and seek an in house inquiry because you did not succeed before the bench.
The counsel continued his argument contending that Justice Gogoi dismissed his plea relying on the statement which he had already challenged for being illegal.
The lawyer who said he hailed from Pune, started making submissions in Marathi, then CJI Chandrachud also started replying in the same language.
Speaking in Marathi, CJI Chandrachud explained to the lawyer that a petition cannot be filed against a judge merely for denying him relief. When a High Court judgment is challenged in the Supreme Court, the High Court judge who decided the matter is not made a party, the CJI explained patiently in Marathi.
CJI Chandrachud also explained to the counsel in Marathi that the registry will look at his petition, but he has to remove the name of former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi from his application. The counsel ultimately agreed.