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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday condoled the demise of former law minister Shanti Bhushan and said that the veteran lawyer will be remembered for his contribution to the legal field.
"Shri Shanti Bhushan Ji will be remembered for his contribution to the legal field and passion towards speaking for the underprivileged. Pained by his passing away. Condolences to his family. Om Shanti," PM Modi said in a tweet. Bhushan passed away on Tuesday aged 97 after a brief illness. He had also actively participated in the agitation led by social activist Anna Hazare. Bhushan was one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party. However, he fell out with AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal within two years of the formation of the party. In 2018, he had moved to the Supreme Court challenging the roster practice of allocation of cases in the top court by the chief justice of India. In his plea, Bhushan had sought to check on the powers of the CJI, who is the 'master of the roster' and allocates hearings of cases to different courts. "The petition raises a very fundamental issue going to the root of the functioning of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and as such is very critical to the interpretation of the Constitution of India and the Rule of Law in India," stated Bhushan in his petition. "The Chief Justice of India could not have heard this case himself quite apart from exercising his power as master of roster in allocating a bench to hear this case and constituting a Constitution Bench that finally pronounced the order declaring the Chief Justice of India as master of roster. The principle of master of roster cannot be applicable to a case where the Chief Justice of India is himself involved," Bhushan added. Bhushan served as the law minister in the Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government from 1977 to 1979, which came to power after the Emergency. (ANI)
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