Satya Prakash
The judiciary is in the news once again for wrong reasons. Justice Rakesh Kumar — the senior-most judge of the Patna High Court — has raised the issue of corruption in judiciary, saying it was an open secret in his high court.
A day after Justice Kumar directed that a copy of his order be sent to the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, an 11-judge Bench of the Patna High Court suspended his order.
Patna HC Chief Justice AP Sahi withdrew “all matters pending before Justice Rakesh Kumar” with immediate effect. “Justice Rakesh Kumar will await in chambers for work assignments until ordered otherwise” read a notice issued by the order of the Patna HC Chief Justice.
Justice Kumar had passed his August 28 order while hearing a bail application of former IAS officer KP Ramiah — accused of embezzling over Rs 5 crore from the Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission. The judge wondered how the accused was granted bail by a lower court when the HC and the Supreme Court — both had rejected his plea for protection from arrest in view of gravity of the offence alleged.
This is not for the first time that a sitting judge has talked about corruption in judiciary. The issue has been cropping up at regular intervals. Be it cash-at-door scam in Punjab and Haryana High Court or Ghaziabad PF scam or Mysore sex scandal — the judiciary has been hitting headlines.
The cases of Justices PD Dinakaran, Shamit Mukherjee and Saumitra Sen were too embarrassing for the judiciary. While Justice Mukherjee resigned after being confronted with proof of his wrongdoings, the other two resigned only after proceedings for their removal were initiated.
The unprecedented press conference held by four senior-most SC judges on January 12, 2018 on roster controversy too alluded to the fact that there was something wrong with the judiciary. Later, there was a failed attempt to remove the then CJI Dipak Misra.
In June this year, CJI Ranjan Gogoi wrote to PM Narendra Modi to initiate a motion for removal of Justice SN Shukla of the Allahabad High Court after an in-house inquiry indicted him for misconduct. While heading a Division Bench, Justice Shukla allegedly went against restraint orders passed by the SC to permit private colleges to admit students for the 2017-18 session.
Besides the issue of corruption, Justice Kumar has also raised the issue of “uncle judges”, saying it was also open fact that wards of judges were practising in the Patna HC and that the ward of one of the judges took classes in Bihar Judicial Academy and got honorarium.
The Law Commission in its 230th report submitted to the government in August 2009 on the issue of “uncle judges”, recommended that judges should not be appointed in a high court where their kith and kin practised. In May 2010, the then Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Mukul Mudgal, had forwarded a list of 16 “uncle judges” to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
Despite attracting adverse publicity for alleged misconduct and misdemeanors of some of its members, the judiciary continues to be the most respected institution in India as the common man sees it as its saviour against executive excesses and lapses. It’s important that judges don’t wash dirty linen in public as it can erode people’s faith in the institution.
Justice Kumar’s letter is already with the CJI, PMO and the Law Ministry. If there is even an iota of truth in Justice Kumar’s allegations, the issues raised by him must be dealt with in the right spirit in the best interest of the institution.
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, said Shakespeare in Hamlet, and it can similarly be said something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court,” a Bench headed by Justice Markandey Katju (since retd) said in November 2010, asking the HC’s then Chief Justice to take steps to stem the rot. The news from the Patna High Court alludes to similar problems.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2ZC8LHs
via Today’s News Headlines
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