The former Madras High Court judge, R. Regupathi, on Tuesday thanked Supreme Court Judge H.L. Gokhale for his statement on the controversy over an alleged attempt by an advocate to influence a case using the name of the former Union Minister, A. Raja.
“I am thankful to Justice Gokhale, [who was then Chief Justice of the Madras High Court when the purported incident occurred),” Mr. Regupathi said. “I am not supposed to react. I did not make the issue public even at the time of the incident since I wanted to uphold the dignity of the legal fraternity. It applies to me today even after retirement,” he told PTI.
Mr. Regupathi refused to join issue with the former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, who denied last week that Mr. Raja's name was in the report sent by Mr. Gokhale.
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Justice Regupati said his not joining issue was not driven by fear but by the need to uphold the court's dignity. Only jurists could comment on the issue and not himself.
Mr. Gokhale had contradicted Mr. Balakrishnan's claim that he was not aware that Mr. Raja's name was mentioned in relation to the alleged attempt to influence the case.