Cash-at-door: SC panel finds no proof :JUDGING THE JUDGES

Collegium To Wait For CBI Report To Clear Punjab & Haryana HC Judges

Uncertainty hangs over the fate of two judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court — Justices Nirmaljit Kaur and Nirmal Yadav — despite a highlevel in-house judicial inquiry being unable to find adequate evidence against them in the cash-at-judge’s door scam.

The collegium of Supreme Court judges headed Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan considered the inquiry report, which recorded the unusual behaviour on the part of the two HC judges but did not find enough evidence regarding judicial indiscretion to warrant personal explanations.

However, the collegium, noting the seriousness of the incident — delivery of Rs 15 lakh at the doors of Justice Kaur ‘‘mistakenly’’ by then Haryana additional advocate general Sanjeev Bansal — has decided to wait for the report from the CBI, which has also been asked to probe the incident.

CBI appears to have intimated the Supreme Court that its investigations were in the final stages and that it was likely to submit its probe report in the first week of January 2009. Factoring in this development, the collegium decided to consider afresh the judicial report along with the investigation details to be submitted by CBI.

The judicial report, submitted by a panel comprising Allahabad HC Chief Justice H L Gokhale, Gujarat HC Chief Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Delhi HC judge Justice Madan Lokur, did elaborate questioning of the two Punjab and Haryana HC judges — Justices Kaur and Yadav — as well as other accused.

The panel had asked Justice Kaur as to why the packets were opened by the security personnel in her presence, which it thought was unusual for a judge. Justice Kaur’s response was equally curious — it was the practice to open anonymous packets in the presence of security personnel as Punjab is a militancy affected state.

The panel has commented that there was more to it than met the eye. On the other hand, it recorded that during questioning Justice Yadav conceded that she, along with 17 others, had bought properties at Solan in Himachal Pradesh with the help of Delhi-based businessman Ravinder Singh and property dealer Rajiv Gupta. However, with most of the accused, other than the judges, in judicial custody, the panel could not gather much evidence to nail the truth. Now, things are expected to take a turn only on the basis of the CBI report in January.
Source:-The Times of India Delhi 24 December 2008 P. 11
For any query:- legalpoint@aol.in