BackCJI Dattu denies justice Sen’s objection to conference over Easter weekend
Dattu said that there had been no confrontation with judge Sen and there had been no statement made from his office
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New Delhi: Chief justice of India H. L. Dattu on Saturday refuted claims that justice Vikramajit Sen had objected to the chief justices conference being held over the Easter weekend.
Earlier on Saturday, the Indian Express had reported that two judges of the apex court—justices Kurian Joseph and Vikramajit Sen had objected to the conference being organised over three days beginning Friday, which was Good Friday. On Sunday, Easter day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a joint conference between the chief justices of the high courts and chief ministers of the states.
He refused to comment about the exchange with judge Joseph.
Speaking to reporters after a felicitation by the Supreme Court Bar Association, CJI Dattu said that there had been no confrontation with judge Sen, there had been no statement made from his office and that it had been “wrongly reported by that correspondent".
CJI Dattu also said that he will be attending the dinner hosted by the prime minister in honour of the chief justices who have come from the high courts across the country. This dinner is scheduled for Saturday, which justice Joseph has declined to attend in a letter sent to the prime minister on 1 April.
Judge Joseph had earlier expressed his displeasure at the timing of the conference to CJI Dattu. In his letter to the prime minister, he said that ““Irrespective of the religion, Diwali, Holi, Dussehra, Eid, Bakrid, Christmas, Easter etc. are great days of festival celebrations in the neighbourhood. Your good self would kindly appreciate that no important programmes are held during sacred and auspicious days of Diwali, Dussehra, Holi, Eid, Bakrid etc., though we have holidays during that period as well."
The chief justices conference focused on developing a National Vision and Mission Plan for the justice sector for 2015-20, salaries of sitting and retired judges, promotion and service conditions of judicial officers in lower courts and greater financial autonomy for the Indian judiciary. Further, discussion was also to focus on strengthening of legal aid services, alternate dispute settlement mechanism, judicial academies and juvenile justice system.
PTI contributed to this story.
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