The former Madras High Court judge, R. Regupathi, on Wednesday said as he did not want to bypass the hierarchy, he did not write directly to the then Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, last year on the attempt to influence him in an anticipatory bail case by using the name of the former Union Minister, A. Raja.
Speaking to The Hindu on the phone from New Delhi, he said: “There is a universal system of hierarchy. I only followed that system and routed the letter through the proper channel. If I had written directly to the Chief Justice of India, it would have given a wrong impression that … I did not have any faith in the then Chief Justice of the Madras High Court [Hemant Laxman Gokhale].
“I addressed the letter to the High Court Chief Justice with a specific request to forward a copy to the Chief Justice of India. As per the procedure, the High Court Chief Justice is expected to send it to the Chief Justice of India along with a covering letter. That is what has been done exactly in this issue, and it has been corroborated by the statement issued by Justice Gokhale on Tuesday.”
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Stating that he felt “much relieved” after Justice Gokhale's statement, Mr. Regupathi said: “Many journalists, including editors of some television channels, wanted me to come for a one-to-one interview. But I politely turned down all those requests because I think I have done my duty, and now it is the turn of the civil society to take this matter to its logical end.”
Recalling an interview he gave to The Hindu on December 8, he said: “As I told you already, a judge becomes functus officio [having performed his duty] once he delivers a judgment. So, if I go about talking too much about this, people will start attributing motives to me. I do not want that. I am right now busy setting up practice in the Supreme Court.”