Date:12/12/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/12/12/stories/2002121204790100.htm

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CJI briefs Punjab judges

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI Dec. 11. The Chief Justice of India, G. B. Pattanaik, is understood to have briefed the three judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court — Justice Amarbir Singh, Justice M.L. Singhal and Justice Mehtab Singh Gill — about the contents of the report submitted by the "in-house'' committee, which probed allegations of "corruption'' against them and their alleged involvement in the Punjab Service Commission scam.

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, submitted its recommendations on December 8.

The committee is said to have observed that there is enough material to hold that the three judges used "undue influence'' and "misused'' their official position to get higher marks for their candidates, including their children, and obtained a job for them in the Service Commission, sources said. But it is not known what action has been recommended.

Speaking to The Hindu, the lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, who is spokesman for the Committee on Judicial Accountability — which included the former Union Law Ministers, Ram Jethmalani, Shanti Bhushan, and other eminent lawyers — reiterated the demand that the contents of the report be made public and immediate follow-up action taken against the three judges to restore the credibility and image of the judiciary.

Mr. Prashant said that if the report indicated that the three judges were guilty, they should not be given any judicial work. They should be asked to resign failing which impeachment proceedings should be initiated against them.