From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the strictures of a Karnataka High Court’s single judge bench of Justice H P Sandesh against the state’s Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and summoning of service records of its senior officers. It listed the matter after three weeks.
Noting that the judge had gone beyond the scope of a bail application of an accused to make “irrelevant observations,” the bench of CJI NV Ramanna, Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli directing him to consider the bail application. He had stayed the proceedings of the bail application.
Its directions came on the pleas filed by the ACB, its chief Seemant Kumar Singh, ADGP, and IAS officer J Manjunath against the adverse observations ex parte by the judge.
Singh’s senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi wants the adverse remarks of the judge expunged, while senior advocate S Nagarmutha, appearing for Manjunath, who was arrested in the bribery case after the critical remarks of the judge, requested that the matter be assigned to some other bench.
“Sorry, we have to balance the sides. we cannot be seen to be favoring one side”, the CJI said while ordering notice on the SLPs.
Justice Sandesh had orally said that the ADGP was a powerful person and that a High Court judge had given him the example of another judge getting transferred for making similar interventions. He went on to order the ACB to produce all the closure reports filed since its inception.
On July 12, the Bench headed by the CJI had requested the judge to defer the hearing of the bail application for three more days. On July 11, Justice Sandesh had recorded in writing the threat of transfer he got from a sitting judge. His remarks on July 4 which created a big controversy are:
Your ADGP is so powerful… Some person spoken to one of our High Court judge, judge came and sat with me and he says, giving an example of transferring of one of the judges to some other district….I will not hesitate to mentioned the name of the judge also.
“I am going to protect the independence of the judiciary at the cost of my judgeship. This should not happen. I will record the same in the order itself. You people are encouraging such people. You are here to protect the institutions, not to do all these things.
“I have no personal interest. Corruption is cancer, I will bell the cat, even at the cost of my judgeship. It is my duty to protect the independence of the judiciary also. I am not affiliated to any political party and also do not belong to the ideology of any political party. I am affiliated to the Constitution only.”
