The Hindu : Panel submits report on 'tainted' Punjab judges

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Monday, Dec 09, 2002

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Panel submits report on 'tainted' Punjab judges

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI Dec. 8. The first ``in-house'' committee to inquire into the alleged involvement of three judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Amarbir Singh, Justice M.L. Singhal and Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, in the Punjab Service Commission scam submitted today its 40-page report to the Chief Justice of India, G.B. Pattanaik.

The committee, comprising the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, A.R. Lakshmanan, the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, B. Subhashan Reddy and Justice Sachidanand Jha of the Patna High Court, called on the CJI at his residence here this morning and submitted its recommendations as contemplated in the ``in-house'' mechanism along with the evidence recorded in the inquiry. As per the ``in-house'' procedure, if there is substance in the allegations, the judges concerned would be advised to resign their office or seek voluntary retirement; if they are unwilling to resign or seek voluntary retirement, the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned would be advised not to allocate any judicial work to them.

The President and the Prime Minister would also be intimated that this was being done because the allegations against the judges had been found by the committee to be so serious as to warrant initiation of impeachment proceedings against them.

However, if according to the report there is substance in the allegations but the ``misconduct'' disclosed is not so serious as to call for the initiation of impeachment proceedings, the CJI shall call the judges and advise them accordingly.

According to reliable sources, the CJI thanked the committee for completing the task assigned to it within two weeks. Now it is up to the CJI to make public the report and to take follow-up action. This would be a test case and the working of this mechanism would depend on the action to be taken by the CJI, sources said.

The main allegation against these judges is that they used ``undue influence'' and ``misused'' their official position to get higher marks for their candidates, including their children, to obtain jobs in the Service Commission. However, all the beneficiaries have resigned their jobs.

The committee which was set up on November 22, conducted the inquiry on November 29 and 30 and also perused the original Service Commission examination answer-books of the beneficiaries. It had grilled the three judges individually and recorded their depositions and statements in respect of the allegations. Sources said full opportunity was given to them to present their version on these allegations.

The committee also examined the two alleged `touts' of the former PPSC Chairman, Sidhu, and two senior police officers, the former SP, Intelligence, and the SP, Vigilance Bureau.

Following the scam, which was highlighted in the media, the former CJI, B.N. Kirpal, appointed Justice Saharya to conduct a probe against the three judges and submit a report. Accordingly, Mr. Justice Saharya completed the inquiry and sent his report to Mr. Justice Kirpal in which he was understood to have stopped short of exonerating them.

As there was no follow-up action, the present CJI appointed the high-level committee to probe the allegations.

`Make report public'

Meanwhile, talking to The Hindu, Prashant Bhushan, lawyer and spokesman of the Committee on Judicial Accountability (CJA), which included the former Union Law Ministers, Ram Jethmalani and Shanti Bhushan, and other eminent lawyers, expressed happiness over the submission of the report by the committee.

He appealed to the CJI to make public its contents and take immediate follow-up action to restore the credibility and image of the judiciary.

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