Two former Judges accuse former CJI Balakrishnan of fixing and corruption

Another shocking revelation of corruption in the Judiciary has been openly made by two former judges. The former Chief Justice of India and Chairman of National Human Rights Commission K. G. Balakrishnan has been facing allegations of corruption for a long time now..Another shocking revelation of corruption in the Judiciary has been openly made by two former judges. The former Chief Justice of India and Chairman of National Human Rights Commission K. G. Balakrishnan has been facing allegations of corruption for a long time now. These allegations started making rounds after his kin reportedly amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income during his tenure as judge in the Supreme Court. However, till date no action has been taken and no inquiry panel has been set by the Centre against former CJI..Recently, two former judges, who knew him closely, suspect that Balakrishnan may be involved in fixing and have called for a detailed probe into the affairs of the former CJI, as reported by FirstPost..One of his accusers is retired Kerala High Court Justice P.K. Shamsuddin (1986-93) who served with the former CJI. Justice Shamsuddin says Balakrishnan must be probed for his dubious practices because he (Shamsuddin) was once approached by a Bangalore-based person to act as an intermediary to a fix case in the Supreme Court, according to FirstPost..Another former retired senior judge, Justice K Sukumaran (1981-91), who served in the Kerala and Maharashtra High Courts, confirms that judges are often approached “by vested interests and attempts made to influence them”. Sukumaran says that Balakrishnan allowed his late brother K.G. Bhaskaran to exploit his name and position for personal gain..These accusations by two former judges bring back the attention to the corruption allegations already doing rounds against the former CJI..The wealth amassed by the former CJI’s kin has been probed by the Special Branch of Kerala police and according to media report, his family amassed crores between 2004 and 2009, when he was CJI..Also, doubts have been raised on his elevation to Kerala High Court. Justice Sukumaran says it is an open secret that Balakrishnan’s career was propelled by former Kerala Chief Minister (late) K Karunakaran. The latter skilfully used the Dalit card to elevate Balakrishnan to the Kerala High Court..Balakrishnan is still holding on to the post of NHRC while several demands have been made asking him to resign from the post. NHRC currently holding a status of participant (A status) is likely to be downgraded to the position of an observer (B status) when its accreditation renewal comes up for consideration before the United Nations (UN). There are various reasons for this and one of the main reasons is corruption charges raised against the Chairman, Balakrishnan..Earlier former Supreme Court Judge Krishna Iyer had also demanded Balakrishnan’s resignation and the setting up of a commission of inquiry to probe his conduct..The Kerala government had also ordered a vigilance probe earlier this year, which came up with a list of properties acquired by Justice Balakrishan’s daughters and sons-in-law. All these properties were acquired between 2007 and 2010 when Justice Balakrishnan was the CJI..The Supreme Court has been silent on allegations of corruption surrounding Justice Balakrishnan after directing the Central government to file a status report on alleged “accumulation of wealth” by the former CJI and his relatives. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia asked Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati to file a status report, but nothing has surfaced so far on this front..Justice Shamsuddin told FirstPost, “People approach someone only when they believe or know that the Judge they want to influence is willing to be influenced”..Justice Shamsuddin further said, “There must be some mechanism to monitor the conduct of judges. It’s almost impossible to impeach Judges. The judges have too much power and they enjoy too much immunity”..The Sikkim High Court Chief Justice Dinakaran is already facing impeachment proceedings on charges of corruption and irregularities. However, he is still serving his tenure and it appears that by the time the proceedings will get over, he will retire after serving full term..The revelations made by the two former judges will surely cast a doubt on the judgments delivered by the former CJI and will compel the Government to act. Now, we need to see whether the Government will set up an inquiry panel against the former CJI and also whether the Government will ask him to step down from the post of Chairman of NHRC.