Shifting stray dog case sent the wrong signal: Justice Oka

The stray dog matter should not have been taken away from justice JB Pardiwala’s bench, justice Abhay S Oka said in his first interview since retiring from the Supreme Court in May, cautioning that shifting cases after public criticism “sends a wrong signal”.

- Utkarsh Anand and Ayesha Arvind

He also underlined that “no chief justice can write to any bench asking them to modify an order”.

The remarks come in the backdrop of the controversy over justice Pardiwala’s August 11 order on the mass capture and sheltering of stray dogs in Delhi and some adjoining districts, which was later withdrawn from his bench and shifted to a larger bench by Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai through an administrative order. The larger bench on August 22 modified the previous order, terming it “too harsh”. In another instance, CJI Gavai had written to justice Pardiwala urging the latter to modify the August 4 directive that barred an Allahabad high court judge from hearing any criminal cases for the remainder of his tenure.

Justice Oka clarified that while benches can always recall or modify their orders by relisting cases and hearing parties afresh, “it is obvious that a chief justice cannot write to any bench asking them to modify an order”.