Irked Allahabad HC to file plea against SC remarks

Stung by criticism from the Supreme Court, the Allahabad high court has decided to move the apex court for expunging critical remarks against it, like ''something is rotten in the state of Denmark'' – meaning the Allahabad High Court.

The high court has now decided ask the Supreme Court to expunge its critical observations. In a meeting of all the judges of the high court, a resolution was passed to file a petition against the remarks.

A senior judge of the high court remarked, ''There can always be a few examples of wrongdoing by judges and lawyers, even in the apex court itself, but a sweeping remark against a state bench is just not justified.''

While hearing an appeal against a stay order passed by the Allahabad high court last week, a Supreme Court bench comprising justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra said, ''Something is rotten in the State of Denmark, said Shakespeare in Hamlet, and it can similarly be said that something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court.''

The bench also asked the chief justice of the High Court to take some strong measures, including recommending ''transfers of the incorrigibles''.

The SC bench made the critical remarks while scrapping a single-judge bench order of the Allahabad High Court which had asked a Bahraich-based Waqf Board to temporarily allot a portion of its land in May-June this year to the proprietors of a circus for its show during an annual fair.