File photo of Patna High Court
He had "no respect for the Rules and he was acting as if he was a 'Moghal badshah'", writes a judge of the Patna High Court in a letter about his boss, the Chief Justice, who retired last week.
The letter, dated August 1, 2015, was sent by Justice Dharnidhar Jha, who has served as a High Court judge for nearly eight years. He opens the four-page missive with declaring he will not attend the farewell party being organized by the bar council for Chief Justice L Narasimha Reddy.
Justice Jha says the retiring judge was corrupt and "moving under some caste considerations". He also says that the former Chief asked top legal officers to work out of what were, till recently, bathrooms. "His behaviour was never like a Judge rather he behaved like a politician," says Justice Jha, adding that, "he threw policies and decisions of the Supreme Court to the wind".
The former Chief Justice did not comment on the controversy to NDTV, but was quoted as saying to the Indian Express "Until I was there, he never uttered a single word to question my decisions, all of which were taken in full court meetings. And now he has written some letter that I have not seen. This is gross misconduct as he is levelling baseless allegations."
The complainant judge writes that the former Chief justice, for a celebration, sanctioned vendor contracts without involving anyone else "and no one knows what was the rate of payment which was approved".
Full Text of Justice Dharnidhar Jha's letter: