Former Kerala Minister Thomas Chandy requests for change in Bench at Supreme Court

The appeal filed in the Supreme Court by former Transport Minister of Kerala, Thomas Chandy, in a case relating to illegal encroachments, created quite a stir today, after a request was made by Chandy seeking a change in Bench..The matter was initially listed before a Bench of Justices RK Agarwal and AM Sapre..A letter was then written by Chandy’s counsel, KR Sasiprabhu on December 13 to the Registrar General of Supreme Court, praying that the matter be shifted to a Bench not comprising Justice AM Sapre..The reason as stated in the letter is that the Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, who had appeared for Chandy in the Kerala High Court cannot appear before Justice Sapre due to personal reasons, and if the matter is listed before a Bench which comprises Sapre J.,.“the petitioner will lose the service of an able lawyer who is well-versed in the facts and laws involved in the case”..The letter prays that the matter be listed before another Bench immediately after the winter vacations..However, with Justice Agarwal’s Bench not sitting today, the matter was shifted to the Chief Justice’s court..The case was taken up as item 60 when advocate VK Biju, appearing for a Caveator objected stating that,.“There is a letter, the contents of the letter are very serious in nature”..Biju also raised the issue of a complaint, which was filed by Chandy against a judge, who was part of the bench that delivered the judgment in the High Court..The Bench said that Justice AM Khanwilkar cannot hear the matter and directed that it be posted before another Bench after winter vacation..Chandy’s appeal is against a November 14 decision of the Kerala High Court by which it had dismissed Chandy’s petition in an encroachment case. The High Court while dismissing the case had observed that as a Cabinet minister, he should not have moved against the decision of the very Cabinet of which he was a member..The decision of High court had led to Chandy’s resignation from Ministerial post..Read the letter written by Thomas Chandy’s lawyer to Supreme Court Registrar General .Image taken from here.