Katju J ready to tender unconditional apology: Rajeev Dhavan appears for ex-SC judge

The ongoing tiff between Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Ranjan Gogoi seems to have taken a surprising turn.

Justice Gogoi had served a notice of contempt on the former Supreme Court judge following his comments on the Soumya judgment delivered by a bench headed by himself, along with Justices Prafulla C Pant and UU Lalit.

We had earlier reported that veteran Senior Advocate Fali S Nariman might appear for Justice Katju. For the time being, however, it looks like Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan is holding down the fort.

It is now confirmed that Dhavan did indeed mention the matter before Justice Gogoi yesterday, and suggested that the retired judge was ready to tender an unconditional apology, and therefore the case might be dropped. He also stated that the widespread reporting of the case had only served to worsen matters, and made the vague suggestion that the case should not get any more publicity than it already has.

This, perhaps explain Dhawan’s reluctance to speak to the media on the issue, or even confirm whether he was, indeed, the lawyer representing Justice Katju.

Unfortunately, Dhawan’s vehement protestations came to naught and Justice Gogoi remained non-committal, choosing to only say,

“You file an application, Dr. Dhawan. We’ll look into it.”

The Court will, in addition to the allegations, also look into Justice Katju’s request to be exempted from personal appearance.

Dhawan has also requested that the matter be placed before the closing of the Court for the winter vacations. All eyes on Justice Gogoi now.