The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a public interest litigation seeking judicial inquiry against former chief justice of India Y K Sabharwal and also directions to the Committee for Judicial Accountability to place on record the material in their possession to substantiate their allegations against Justice Sabharwal.

The bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran, however, told the petitioner Manohar Lal Sharma that any inquiry at this stage shall prejudice the case of Mid-day journalists whose appeal against their conviction and sentence in a contempt of court case is pending before the court.

Mid-day, earlier in a report, had said that the sealing order against commercial premises operating from residential areas in Delhi was passed by the bench headed by Justice Sabharwal to benefit his two sons who were allegedly having connections with shopping mall developers. The apex court then had dismissed the petition.

Earlier, Sharma had pleaded before the court that the reputation of the judiciary was being maligned and that the honourable court should appoint a judicial committee to examine the material, which is being distributed at press conferences by the office bearers of Committee for Judicial Accountability who include former Union law minister Shanti Bhushan.

Justice Sabharwal in his article in Times of India had denied all the allegations as baseless and false.