In a curious development, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nripendra Misra was today seen outside Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra’s residence in New Delhi. News agency ANI tweeted a photograph of Nripendra Misra sitting in his car outside the residence of the CJI.

Later talking to India Today, Nripendra Misra said, “On the way to office, I stopped by at CJI’s residence and left my card at gate with Happy New Year greetings. I did not meet the CJI.”

Meanwhile, there are reports saying that CJI Dipak Misra refused to meet Nripendra Misra apparently to avoid further controversies in the backdrop of four senior judges of the Supreme Court alleging that the CJI office was not being run in accordance with the established principles of judiciary.

On the way to office, I stopped by at CJI’s residence and left my card at gate with Happy New Year greetings. - Nripendra Misra, PS to PM Modi

Nripendra Misra's presence outside Dipak Misra’s residence may be significant as the government yesterday said that it was not going to intervene in the issue of senior judges going public with their grievances against the CJI.

The Congress has sought clarification from the prime minister over Nripendra Misra’s visit to CJI Dipak Misra’s residence, “As PM’s Principal Secretary, Nripendra Misra visits CJI’s residence at 5, Krishna Menon Marg; PM must answer the reason for sending this special messenger to Chief Justice of India,” tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

PM must answer the reason for sending this special messenger to Chief Justice of India. - Randeep Surjewala, Congress spokesperson

The four senior judges - Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph –dubbed the situation in the Supreme Court as "not in order" at a press conference.

The second seniormost judge after the Chief Justice of India, Justice J Chelameswar, had earlier said, "Sometimes, the administration of the Supreme Court is not in order and many things which are less than desirable have happened in the last few months."

The government later expressed hope that the judiciary would resolve the matter itself. "Our judiciary is reputed all over the world, is independent and will sort out the matter itself," Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhury said.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources in the government said that since it was an internal matter of the judiciary, the government had no say in it and did not wish to interfere. But, at the same time, they said that the apex court should settle the issue at the earliest as the faith of the people in the judiciary was at stake.