Raja defends visit to Justice Chelameshwar

New Delhi: Communist Party of India (CPI) Member of Parliament D Raja on Friday defended his visit to Justice J Chelameshwar at his residence here soon after he and three other Supreme Court judges held an unprecedented press conference, denying that it was prompted by political considerations.

Explaining the rationale for his visit that raised eyebrows in certain quarters, Mr Raja told media persons that he knew Justice Chelameswar for a long time and thought he should find out what happened, since the judges had gone public with their complaints.

'I just thought I should find out what exactly the problem is. There is no politics involved. This issue concerns all citizens,' the CPI National Secretary said, adding "Parliament will have to devise a method to sort out problems like this in the judiciary." 

He was responding to questions from reporters on his reaction to the happenings which had snowballed into an unprecedented press conference by four senior most Supreme Court judges, which hinted at a sharp divide in the highest court of the land. 

Stating that he had known Mr Justice Chelameshwar for a long time, Mr Raja said he wanted to know from him the reason for the extreme step the four judges had taken.In an interview to a private channel, the Left leader said 'My concern is there is problem in judiciary. And, the judiciary must rise above this and restore the faith of people in the judiciary.'

He went on to say that Justice Chelameswar 'has not sought anything from me. Everyone worries about democracy in this country. And, Judiciary is considered to be the last faith of our citizens.''Our Constitution has defined roles for the judiciary, Parliament and executive. I think when there is a crisis in the judiciary, Parliament should discuss the issue and provide meaningful solution,' he averred.

Mr Raja stressed 'we want independence of the judiciary. We want the problems to be sorted. What judges did today was extraordinary.'Justice Chelameswar had told him in their meeting whatever he said in the press conference, Mr Raja added, ponting out that 'it is the concern of all citizens and being a citizen of this country, I am concerned.'(UNI)