The Supreme Court today offered little relief by way of clarification while dismissing Allahabad High Court’s application to expunge the apex court’s earlier castigating remarks that “something was rotten” in the lower court amid a prevalence of “uncle judges syndrome”, while holding that there were “excellent and good judges too” and incorrigibles should be transferred.

A bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra rejected the pleas of the Allahabad High Court’s senior counsel P P Rao and called from introspection rather than reaction in turn, reported the Times of India.

The judges also noted that people of India are not fools in response to the senior counsel’s argument that the “rustic people” would not be able to distinguish between an honest and corrupt judge while pressing for complete expulsion of the Supreme Court’s earlier remarks.

The Allahabad High Courts had maintained that a mere clarification that there were some honest judges too in Uttar Pradesh High Court was not enough and comments casting aspersion on the state judiciary’s image were not good.

Rao had filed an application for abrogation of the apex court’s remarks following a strong indictment of the Allahabad High Court in a 26 November order passed during the hearing of an appeal against an allotment of land in favour of a circus on a property belonging to the Waqf Board.

Drawing allusion to Shakespearean phrase “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark,” the SC bench had said that the high court “really needs some house cleaning”, reported the Times of India.

“It had made the remarks in a 12-page order while making the insinuation that several judges of the high court suffer from ‘uncle judge’ syndrome, which refers to judges passing favourable orders for parties represented by lawyers known to them,” wrote the TOI.