A single judge Bench of Justice Sonia Gokani has directed the appointment of the Assistant Officer of the Anti-Corruption Bureau for the purposes of investigating graft allegations against two judicial officers in Gujarat..The petitioner, a practicing advocate had filed a complaint against two judicial officers working in the District of Valad. It was alleged that not only were these judicial magistrates responsible for distorting the evidence presented before them, they also compelled advocates to approach them with the use of pressure tactics in order to continue their corrupt ways..Thereafter, the Vigilance Cell of the Gujarat High Court had lodged the FIR against the judicial officers. The FIR contained allegations of the misdeeds being captured on camera and via voice recording. Following this, the two judges were suspended and later arrested..The Gujarat High Court, in a previous order had noted that the case was a large scale scam. The accused had tarnished the image of the judiciary and the facts of the case were gross and disturbing..Lamenting the lack of facilities in the law enforcement department, the judgment takes note of the fact that not much was done to bring the matter to its conclusion by the Investigating Officer, stating,.“The requisite speed in collecting the evidence was sadly lacking due to the sorry state of affairs of the Vigilance Cell Police station. The Registrar (Vigilance), even if makes his best possible efforts with all seriousness to act speedily, with no infrastructure and lack of manpower would sure to hamper his working considerably.”.The Court therefore, directed that the officer to look into the aspects concerning the collection and investigation of material evidence against the accused, as well as the disproportionate assets accumulated by them through the abuse of power..Interestingly, the judgment at the outset makes reference to the Jayalalitha judgment delivered in February this year, by quoting Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy’s scathing attacks on the vice of corruption.
A single judge Bench of Justice Sonia Gokani has directed the appointment of the Assistant Officer of the Anti-Corruption Bureau for the purposes of investigating graft allegations against two judicial officers in Gujarat..The petitioner, a practicing advocate had filed a complaint against two judicial officers working in the District of Valad. It was alleged that not only were these judicial magistrates responsible for distorting the evidence presented before them, they also compelled advocates to approach them with the use of pressure tactics in order to continue their corrupt ways..Thereafter, the Vigilance Cell of the Gujarat High Court had lodged the FIR against the judicial officers. The FIR contained allegations of the misdeeds being captured on camera and via voice recording. Following this, the two judges were suspended and later arrested..The Gujarat High Court, in a previous order had noted that the case was a large scale scam. The accused had tarnished the image of the judiciary and the facts of the case were gross and disturbing..Lamenting the lack of facilities in the law enforcement department, the judgment takes note of the fact that not much was done to bring the matter to its conclusion by the Investigating Officer, stating,.“The requisite speed in collecting the evidence was sadly lacking due to the sorry state of affairs of the Vigilance Cell Police station. The Registrar (Vigilance), even if makes his best possible efforts with all seriousness to act speedily, with no infrastructure and lack of manpower would sure to hamper his working considerably.”.The Court therefore, directed that the officer to look into the aspects concerning the collection and investigation of material evidence against the accused, as well as the disproportionate assets accumulated by them through the abuse of power..Interestingly, the judgment at the outset makes reference to the Jayalalitha judgment delivered in February this year, by quoting Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy’s scathing attacks on the vice of corruption.