SC refuses to strike off Allahabad HC "something is rotten" remark

New Delhi, Dec 10 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday refused to strike off the stinging remarks it made against the Allahabad High Court.

The judge said that it is not a time to react but to introspect and not all judges are bad, there are good judges also.

The Allahabad High Court had filed an application that asked for the Supreme Court's 'something is rotten' remark to be expunged. The application was listed for hearing before the same bench that had made the comment.

On November 26, a bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra had said," Something is rotten in the State of Denmark, said Shakespeare in Hamlet, and it can similarly be said that something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court."

Aggrieved by such strong indictment, the full court of the High Court had decided to move the apex court seeking expunction of such adverse observations.

"It is respectfully submitted that where sweeping observations are made which seriously damage the reputation of the institution as a whole, the problem remains where it is, but the image of the institution - which also has a large number of judges who are doing their best to discharge their constitutional duties - gets sullied," the High Court said in its application.

The application further said: "It is respectfully submitted that the selection of judges, including those whose relatives are practicising in the same institution is not a problem peculiar to the Allahabad High Court, but an institutional problem."

The bench also asked the Chief Justice of the High Court to take some strong measures, including recommending "transfers of the incorrigibles".

Taking serious note of two interim orders of the High Court, the apex court bench had said: "The Allahabad High Court really needs some house cleaning (both Allahabad and Lucknow Bench)". (ANI)