New Delhi: Press Council of India Chairman Justice Katju, who is on a tirade against "corruption" in judiciary, triggered yet another controversy on Monday. After targeting former Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia, Justice Katju on Monday trained guns at another top judge.
Katju accused former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan of pushing for the elevation of a Madras High Court judge with "bad reputation" to the Supreme Court.
He said that the collegium headed by Justice Balakrishnan and also having Justice SH Kapadia "almost succeeded" in bringing the judge to the apex court but lawyers in Tamil Nadu thwarted it by producing "voluminous documentary evidence of his corruption".
But it is not just senior lawyers who are lashing out at Justice Katju for his off-time revelations, but the DMK too threatened to sue him for allegedly targeting its party chief K Karunanidhi. The party also demanded an unconditional apology from the former SC judge over his remarks where in he accused the DMK of putting pressure on the UPA regime over the appointment of an Additional Judge of Madras High Court.
Katju made the fresh claims on his blog while also reacting to remarks made by Justice Kapadia in response to his Sunday's post. Justice Kapadia had said that he had not brought to Supreme Court any unfit judge.
"I may remind him (Kapadia) that the Supreme Court collegium, headed by (then) CJI KG Balakrishnan, and of which Justice Kapadia was a member, almost succeeded in bringing a totally unfit person into the Supreme Court," Katju said. "That judge was a judge of the Madras High Court when I was Chief Justice there, so I knew all about his bad reputation. Later, he was made Chief Justice of another High Court, and was being considered for elevation to the Supreme court," he further said.
Katju said that one day during lunch interval, he went to Justice Kapadia's chamber and told him about the "bad reputation" of that judge, giving details.
"I told him that I was not in the Supreme Court collegium, but he was, and now it was for him to do whatever he thinks proper, and I have done my duty. There was no use informing Justice Balakrishnan since it was he who was pushing for the judge's elevation to the Supreme Court," he wrote.
Katju further said that after listening to him, Justice Kapadia thanked him and said that in future also if he has such information it should be passed on to him.
"Despite this, the collegium, of which Justice Kapadia was a member, recommended the name of that judge having questionable integrity, and he would have definitely been elevated to the Supreme Court but for the Tamil Nadu lawyers who produced voluminous documentary evidence of his corruption," Katju wrote.
However, Justice Kapadia denied having ever ordered tapping of phones of the judge.
"As I have said earlier that I have transferred a number of judges (on various charges) but I have to follow a protocol. Unless a complaint is received in writing from some judge of the same court or other court with specific instance no Chief Justice can take action," Justice Kapadia said.
"A letter has to come from the complaining judge about the corrupt judge with a specific instance. Thereafter I have to put my remarks and then forward it to my collegium. Such a proposal (for transfer of judge) would then go the Prime
Minister's Office (PMO)," he said.
"If no such letter about the judge (against whom action is sought to be taken) is enclosed, then the PMO will send back the file. So I have to follow the procedure", he said, adding "in this case, no such letter was received by me."
In his blog, Justice Katju did not mention the name of this judge. "I do not know whom he is referring to," Justice Kapadia said.
Even as Justice Katju continues to make more claims, Chief Justice of India RM Lodha has defended the collegium system and said there is a campaign to defame the judiciary. "There is a campaign to disrespect the judiciary and this is doing a great damage. Don't shake the confidence of the people by defaming judiciary."
Lodha expressed anguish over Justice Katju's allegations and said, "I am the product of the first batch of judges appointed by collegium and Justice Nariman is the last judge. We are a product of the system, if the product has failed, then everything has failed."
(With inputs from PTI)
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