Former Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice V Eswaraiah moves Supreme Court against HC ordering probe into his phone chat

Former Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh (AP) High Court, Justice V Eshwaraiah has approached the Supreme Court of India against an order passed by the AP High Court calling for an investigation into his private telephonic conversation regarding charges of misconduct against a sitting Supreme Court judge..A Division Bench of Justices M Satyanarayana Murthy and Lalitha Kanneganti had ordered an enquiry into a conversation contained in pen-drive disclosing some material about a plot against the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh and another sitting Judge of the Supreme Court..The order by the High Court was made on an application to reopen an intervention filed by the suspended District Munsif Magistrate in an unrelated public interest litigation petition pending before the High Court seeking implementation of COVID-19 guidelines in the High Court.In his plea before the Supreme Court, Eshwaraiah has pointed out that the enquiry into the conversation was made by the High Court on the basis of the intervention application without even allowing the intervention and without notice to the petitioner..It was also pointed out that he has "publicly" spoken about the misconduct of the sitting judge of the Supreme Court and "his (judge's) nexus with the erstwhile government and the then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. He was privy to various facts regarding this misconduct, the plea added.."Misconduct which he was talking about was the subject matter of an enquiry by the cabinet subcommittee regarding dubious property transactions for unlawful gain, also involving the said sitting supreme court Judge and other public servants at the helm of affairs in the erstwhile government in Andhra pradesh," the petition says..The petition has stated that this "conspiracy was the subject matter of an FIR which names Dammalapati srinivas, former Additional Advocate General including two daughters of the sitting Supreme court Judge.""In these circumstances it was legitimate for the petitioner to seek any further information about the misconduct of the Judge from anyone who might be privy to such information. Terming such a conversation to be some sort of a criminal conspiracy to destabilize the judiciary which needs an investigation is totally unwarranted," reads the plea..The High Court, he has claimed, erroneously held that his seeking more information about a fact already in public domain and under police scrutiny, amounts to a conspiracy to malign the judges concerned or was a plot against the judiciary.Eshwaraiah has also alleged that the audio clip was leaked to a news channel to tarnish his image and defame him with false propaganda and with a calculated motive of exposing him to hatred. .The case before the High Court had an audio conversation contained in the pen drive disclosing "that it was a serious conspiracy against the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.".High Court had stated that since the alleged plot is against the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court with malafide intention, unless the authenticity of the contents is established, Court cannot proceed against anyone..High Court had added that in the judicial process, it is the solemn duty of the court to unravel the truth and the only way to do so is to order an enquiry."Truth should be the guiding star in the entire judicial process," the High Court had said. .Towards that end, Justice Raveendran, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India was asked to hold an enquiry to find out the authenticity of the conversation.