Monday, April 11, 2011

Balakrishnan in line of fire over kin’s DA – the pioneer – 5.4.11


Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

The heat against former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan gained intensity on Monday. A group of former Supreme Court judges, bureaucrats and social activists demanded the Prime Minister and President to make a reference to the apex court for an inquiry into the “serious misbehaviour” of Justice Balakrishnan, who is currently the NHRC Chairman. It also demanded his removal from the NHRC.

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), whose patrons include Justices VR Krishna Iyer, PB Sawant, H Suresh and which is led by the father-son duo of Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, alleged that the wealth of Balakrishnan’s kith and kin grew manifold during his 10-year tenure in the Supreme Court where he was appointed Judge in the year 2000.

Detailing the illegal amassment of wealth by Balakrishnan’s two son in-laws, brothers and even the peon, the organisation in its letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil urged him to make a “reference to the Supreme Court for inquiry into the misbehaviour of the former Chief Justice”.

“In the past few months, the news of close relatives and former aide of Justice KG Balakrishnan possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income has been covered widely by the national media. The Campaign has also come across other instances of grave misbehaviour by Balakrishnan during his tenure as the Chief Justice of India.

“After retiring as CJI, Balakrishnan was appointed as the Chairman of the NHRC. The process of removal of a member of NHRC has been given in Sec 5 of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993,” said the CJAR.

The petition was annexed with more than 30 land title documents worth more than `100 crore, purchased by Balakrishnan’s daughters KB Sony, KB Rani and their husbands PV Sreenijan and MJ Benny, and his brothers. The complaint also annexed the high volume land deals by Balakrishnan’s peon Kannabiran.

The organisation also sought probe into the dubious actions of appointments of tainted Justice PD Dinakaran and hushing up the issue of former Telecom Minister A Raja by calling up Justice Raghupathy. “Justice Raghpathy and Justice Gokhale’s revelations have made it clear that Justice Balakrishnan not only suppressed the letter implicating A Raja, but did not flinch from lying to the nation about these grave allegations.

“The above facts show that Justice Balakrishnan has been guilty of several acts of serious misbehaviour. We, therefore, request you to kindly make a reference to the Supreme Court for inquiry into the above acts of misbehaviour of Justice Balakrishnan under Sec 5(1) of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993,” said CJAR.

It is learnt that the Bhushans would approach the Supreme Court soon, against Balakrishnan, if the Government did not take any action in this regard.

A PIL filed by an advocate seeking a CBI probe into the assets of Balakrishnan and his family members is also pending in the Supreme Court. The apex court had on March 4 allowed the advocate to submit additional documents related to the property acquired by the relatives of Balakrishnan.

The bench had also asked Attorney General GE Vahanvati to apprise it of the status of a complaint filed in May last year against Balakrishnan, seeking a CBI probe into his assets.

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