NEW DELHI: In a stunning claim, retired

judge Kurian Joseph said he and three other most senior SC judges held their much-discussed press conference on January 12 as they felt that then

was being controlled from outside and was allocating cases to judges with political bias.

In an exclusive interview to TOI, Justice Joseph narrated in detail the turbulent times in the apex court, leading to the unprecedented press conference by him with three most senior judges — Justices

,

and Madan B Lokur.

Asked what went wrong within four months of Justice Misra taking over as CJI, Justice Joseph said, "There were several instances of external influences on the working of the Supreme Court relating to allocation of cases to benches headed by select judges and appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts.

"Someone from outside was controlling the CJI, that is what we felt. So we met him, asked him, wrote to him to maintain independence and majesty of the Supreme Court. When all attempts failed, we decided to hold a press conference."

Asked to elaborate on the "external influence", Justice Joseph said, "Starkly perceptible signs of influence with regard to allocation of cases to different benches selectively, to select judges who were perceived to be politically biased."

At the headline-hogging press conference, the rebel judges questioned the functioning of then CJI Misra, including allocation of hearing of a petition seeking probe into the alleged suspicious death of judicial officer B H Loya to a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, who later recused from the case after a showdown with Justice Chelameswar at the routine morning meeting of SC judges on January 13.

Asked whether it was a unanimous decision to go for the press conference, he said, "Justice Chelameswar was the initiator of the idea of press conference. But we three agreed with him."

The presser and allegations of the then CJI getting cosy with the establishment were cited as grounds in the motion moved by Congress-led opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha seeking Justice Misra's removal. The notice for the motion was rejected by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for lack of any convincing grounds.

(Left to right) PTI file photo of justices Kurian Joseph, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi (now CJI), and

at their press conference in New Delhi earlier this year

Born in a family with modest means, Justice Joseph persevered to rise in his profession, reaching the number three spot in the SC. His father was a clerk in the Kerala high court, where he started his practice in 1979 at the age of 26. He was appointed additional advocate general of Kerala in 1994 and was designated a senior advocate in 1996.

"It was a proud moment for me when I took oath as a judge of the Kerala HC in 2000, the HC where my father had worked as a clerk. His meagre income was insufficient to run a large household comprising seven children. I used to go to school barefoot and got my first slippers when I was in Class 7. But we never even thought of complaining as hardship was a part of life," he said.

A deeply spiritual person, Justice Joseph believes that dispensing justice is a constitutional duty where compassion holds the balance. In his tenure of five years and eight months, he disposed of 8,612 cases and wrote over 1,000 detailed judgments.

His prayer before deciding cases would humble the most knowledgeable, "I always had the same prayer on my lips when I heard a case: 'God, let justice not be denied to a deserving person only because of my lack of knowledge or inadequate preparation on my part. And give me wisdom to discern justice in the case'." Justice Joseph said he read each and every case file and his law clerks were utilised only for research purposes.