Senior advocate Dushyant Dave wrote to the Chief Justice of India questioning the propriety of a Supreme Court two-judge bench headed by justice CK Prasad which took away a matter listed before a three-judge bench, and decided the matter itself, reported the Times of India yesterday.

Prasad and justice Pinaki Ghose’s bench had in January passed suo motu orders tagging a Cidco golf course tender case to, allegedly, an unrelated criminal appeal it was hearing.

He said the it was “disturbing” how the hearing was “inexplicably snatched from a three-judge bench authorized to hear it”.

Dave, in his letter, said the issue raised a number of questions:

“Why was the bench headed by Justice Prasad so keen to hear the land matter in such unnatural haste in violation of judicial propriety and decorum? How did it learn of it? Could it have, suo motu, with any lawyer or party requesting its tagging, tag it? In any case, the matters were unrelated, as senior counsel C U Singh who appeared in the criminal case had informed Justice Prasad who agreed, but said the common factor was Cidco.”

The letter added, “What was the SC registry doing? Couldn't it have checked the matters were unconnected? After accepting and de-tagging it, ought not the matter to have been sent to the regular bench?”