The 2018 Supreme Court of India crisis was a period of institutional crisis in the Judiciary of India, aggravated after a press conference criticising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra was given on 12 January 2018 by the four most senior Supreme Court judges (after Misra): Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur, and Kurian Joseph. The press conference was the first such given by Supreme Court judges in the history of India.

Tensions within the Supreme Court emerged in 2017 over disagreements in the allocation and handling of cases. These issues came from cases involving a medical-college scam case in November 2017 and petitions calling for investigations into the death of judge B.H. Loya. The four judges raised their concerns with Misra in the months between November 2017 and the Loya case in January 2018, arguing that the established conventions on the composition of benches were not being followed. Attempts to resolve these disputes between the judges and Misra were unsuccessful.

On the day of the Loya hearing, the media were called to Chelameswar's residence in New Delhi. In the press conference, Chelameswar warned that democracy would "not survive" in the country unless the institution was "preserved", and asserted that their "efforts failed" in trying to convince Misra to take "remedial measures". The four judges alleged certain politically controversial cases were allocated to such benches which give favourable judgements towards a political party, and released a letter to the public which they had addressed to Misra months before outlining their concerns. Reaction to the conference was mixed, with some praising the judges for demonstrating transparency and accountability, while others criticised the impact the press conference would have on the public image of the Supreme Court.

Days after the press conference, Misra released a list of seven important cases to be heard by constitution benches which excluded all four of the judges who spoke against him. In April, an opposition-led motion in the Rajya Sabha to impeach Misra received 64 signatures by MPs but was rejected by Venkaiah Naidu. The crisis led to speculation as to whether Misra would recommend Gogoi as his successor, but he did so in September 2018. In August 2020, a Supreme Court bench stated that they hoped it was the "first and the last" time judges would go to the press.

Background Dipak Misra became the 45th Chief Justice of India in August 2017. The Supreme Court collegium by January 2018 consisted of Misra, along with the four next most-senior judges — Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur, and Kurian Joseph. Chelameswar was appointed to the Supreme Court on 10 October 2011, while Gogoi was appointed on 23 April 2012. Lokur became a Supreme Court judge on 4 June 2012, and Joseph was appointed on 8 March 2013.

Politically charged cases that came before the Supreme Court were traditionally overseen by the most senior judges of the court.

Prelude (2017–2018)

Medical college scam case

The Medical Council of India and Union Ministry of Health barred 46 private medical colleges from admitting students in 2017 due to alleged irregularities. One of these included the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences, run by the Prasad Education Trust. Former judge I. M. Quddusi was allegedly approached to help orchestrate a multi-crore plot to achieve a favourable order from the Supreme Court to help settle debarment of the college. Quddusi was arrested along with five others in September 2017 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A petition was filed by a legal reform group seeking the setting up of an independent probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a retired Chief Justice of India (CJI). The petition suggested the probe was needed as there was an alleged attempt to bribe Supreme Court judges. Other issues raised by the petitioners included the possibility of bias if Misra or other judges considered a case where they had a possible connection; Misra, Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar previously heard a plea filed by the trust in August 2017. Jasti Chelameswar, the most senior-judge after Misra, admitted the petition on 8 November but Misra reportedly overturned the decision, and the case was instead allocated to a bench consisting of Arjan Kumar Sikri and Ashok Bhushan.

On 9 November, a new petition in the case was filed by Kamini Jaiswal with Chelameswar. He noted its "disturbing" allegations and ordered a hearing by a constitution bench for 13 November. Chelameswar gave the order despite being delivered a note from Misra during the proceedings, which asked him not to make a decision in the case. On 10 November, a bench led by Misra annulled Chelameswar's order, with Misra telling the court that he as the chief justice was the master of the roster and had the power to decide the schedule and roster of the court. The case was later referred to a bench headed by Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, and dismissed on 1 December with the petitioners being fined .

Loya case allocation Special CBI Judge B.H. Loya was presiding over Sohrabuddin encounter case when he died in 2014. BJP President Amit Shah, who was then the state home minister of Gujarat, and Rohith Shah were accused in the case. Around two weeks after Loya's death, the judge who replaced him in the case discharged Shah and ruled out the trial. In November 2017, the Caravan reported that Loya's family raised doubts over the circumstances of his death, and called for an inquiry. Members of his family alleged that he was offered a to rule in favour of Shah days before his death. Medical records showed that Loya died of a cardiac arrest.

On 10 January 2018, the Bombay High Court admitted a petition seeking a probe into Loya's death, which was set for 23 January. However, the Supreme Court intervened on 12 January and heard two similar petitions, listed to be heard in court 10. The bench comprised Arun Kumar Mishra and Mohan Shantanagoudar, who were 10th and 22nd in seniority respectively out of the 25 Supreme Court judges.

Press conference (January 2018)

Misra meeting and lead-up On 12 January 2018, Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph met with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Misra and requested for the Loya case, which was alleged to be politically sensitive, to be shifted away from the court of Arun Kumar Mishra to a more senior court. Misra refused the request of the judges. After finishing their work, the media was called to Chelameswar's residence in New Delhi at noon of the same day for a press conference.

Issues raised by the judges In the press conference, Chelameswar said "we tried to collectively persuade the chief justice that certain things are not in order and therefore you should take remedial measures....Unfortunately, our efforts failed." He also said "that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country." Gogoi, responding to queries over the morning meeting with Misra, stated that "it was the issue of an assignment of a case", and went on to say that "since all our efforts to convince the CJI that an appropriate decision has to be taken failed, we had no other option but to communicate it to the nation". When asked whether he wanted Misra impeached, Chelameswar said "let the nation decide".

The Times of India reported that the judges listed five main complaints they alleged was wrong with the Supreme Court under Misra's tenure as CJI:

The allocation of important cases to CJI-led benches and not to other senior judge-headed benches Cases that had significant consequences for the judiciary and country were assigned by Misra based on preference rather than rationality The Loya case was not allocated to any of their four benches The allocation of the medical college admissions scam to a more junior bench after Chelameswar was overruled by Misra Misra heading a smaller bench on the memorandum of procedure when it was heard previously by a five-judge bench

Also on 12 January, the judges made public a letter which they had sent Misra two months ago (with no specified date) but received no response to. In the letter, the four judges stated that there were "instances where cases having far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution had been assigned by the chief justice of this court selectively to the benches ‘of their preference’ without any rationale for this assignment. This must be guarded against at all costs."

Chelameswar finished the conference by stating "we don't want wise men saying 20 years from now that justice Chelameswar, [Ranjan] Gogoi, [Madan B] Lokur and Kurian Joseph sold their souls and didn't do the right thing by our constitution."

Analysis Chelameswar described the press conference as an "extraordinary event in the history of any nation, and of this institution, the judiciary". The press conference was the first such instance in the history of the country.

Reaction

Political figures

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for government and political parties to stay out of the crisis, stating that he had "faith" in the justice system and claimed that they would "definitely figure out a solution". Indian National Congress (INC) president Rahul Gandhi stated that the points were "extremely important" that "must be looked into carefully". West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that citizens were "deeply anguished" and that central government interference in the judiciary was "dangerous for democracy." Yogendra Yadav called for people to "stand with independent judges".

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician Subramanian Swamy called for the four judges to not be criticised, and instead "respected".

Legal community

Attorney General K. K. Venugopal said that the event "could have been avoided", and called for the judges to show "statesmanship" to ensure "complete harmony". Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) K. G. Balakrishnan argued that the judges should have settled their differences among themselves rather than going public. Former CJI Rajendra Mal Lodha said that the judiciary's image was "dented and would take a long time to repair". He also said the "grievances" of the four judges were "not addressed" which is "why they did this". Former Supreme Court judge RS Sodhi called for the impeachment of the four judges. Senior advocate K. T. S. Tulsi described the conference as "shocking". Former Supreme Court judge and Solicitor General N. Santosh Hegde said that he was "devastated" and that the press conference had caused "irreparable" damage to the institution. Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee said that it would have "serious repercussions for the public image of the judiciary and the Indian Constitution". Senior advocate Indira Jaising described the press conference as "historic", and praised the judges for "having coming out and been accountable to the nation", but said that they did not go "far enough".

Public opinion Public opinion on the press conference was divided. Some supported the decision of the judges, while others criticised them for taking their concerns to the media.

Aftermath (January–April 2018)

Immediate aftermath and Loya case