Storm in a tea cup blows over, all quiet on SC front, says Attorney General

New Delhi: The unprecedented crisis that rocked the judiciary on January 12 seemed to have been resolved amicably on Monday "over a cup of tea" and the four senior most judges-J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph-seemed to have sorted out the differences as of now with the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the media that except three judges, other judges were present at the customary "tea meet" that takes place every morning before the commencement of work. 

The four judges -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- took up their respective business on the first working day after the January 12 press conference. The AG said,  "Now everything has been settled. The courts are functioning. The storm in a tea cup was resolved over a cup of tea."   Highly places sources said that the top four judges discussed with the CJI Misra the issues raised by them at the press conference on January 12. There were heated exchanges among the judges over the manner in which the four judges took up the issue before the media. One of the junior judges took exception to the four rebel judges dropping his name in the press conference thereby tarnishing his image. One of the rebel judges was understood to have pacified the judge and expressed regret saying, "He was not their target." The CJI also pacified the judge concerned.

4 judges out of 8 cases
The daily list of business for Tuesday shows that the two PILs seeking probe into Justice Loya's death are listed before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, against whom aspersions were cast by a senior advocate in public. 

Amid a lingering rift between the Chief Justice Dipak Misra and four senior-most judges over assignment of important cases, the Supreme Court on Monday announced the composition of a 5-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI, which does not include the four, in eight cases.