NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India B R Gavai has sought to give a "quietus" to a "trivial issue" related to absence of Chief Secretary and Director General of Police on his maiden visit to his home state of Maharashtra on Sunday.
He said since "all concerned have already expressed regrets", the matter should not be blown out of proportion.
Justice Gavai is the first Buddhist and second Dalit to reach the post of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He assumed the office as the 52 nd Chief Justice of India on May 14. He is set to superannuate on November 23, 2025.
While addressing a felicitation function by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa on Sunday, May 18, Justice Gavai flagged the issue of lack of protocol.
“I do not usually believe in protocol, however, every organ of the Constitution must reciprocate and give respect to the other organ of the Constitution. When the son of this State, who has become the CJI comes to Maharashtra for the first time, if the State's Chief Secretary, Commissioner of Police etc do not want to attend the event, that is best left on their wisdom,” he had then said.
On May 19, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi slammed the MahaYuti-NDA dispensation.
It sought a clarification from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
On Tuesday, in a press note, an SC official said, "News items are being published in the media regarding protocol issues during the visit of the CJI to Maharashtra. All concerned have already expressed regrets. The CJI has expressed that a trivial issue should not be blown out of proportion. CJI has requested everyone that the matter be given a quietus."
