On March 19 this year, after being overlooked for elevation to the Supreme Court by a collegium headed by CJI Kabir, Chief Justice Bhattacharya, who was the third seniormost High Court Chief Justice at the time, sent a 10-page letter to the President, PM and the CJI, the report said.
Two other High Court CJs — Bombay High Court CJ Mohit S Shah and Uttarakhand High Court CJ Barin Ghosh — too were overlooked for elevation.
In his letter to the CJI, Chief Justice Bhattacharya wrote: "As a human being, I have a reasonable basis to apprehend that the fact that as a member of the collegium while I was a judge of the Calcutta HC, I raised serious objections against the elevation of Smt Shukla Kabir Sinha, your (CJI Altamas Kabir's) younger sister, is the real reason for making such observations against me."
Justice Bhattacharya has asked that his letter be shown to all members of the collegium. He has also requested that he be shown "the material which led you (CJI Kabir) to take such a decision regarding my competence and character". He has said that he will resign if he is given "justifiable reasons".
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