Former Supreme Court judge and Press Council Chairman Markandey Katju who leveled sensational allegations against three Chief Justices of India for making “improper compromises” during UPA regime, on Tuesday came up with six questions for Justice RC Lahoti.
On Monday he alleged that a corrupt judge was allowed to continue in the Madras High Court despite serious corruption charges against him because three CJIs were succumbed to political pressure from UPA government. Katju alleged that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted demand for extension of that allegedly corrupted judge by a Tamil Nadu ally, presumably DMK and forced the CJI to allow extension of tenure of the said judge.
In his blog, today Katju posed questions for Justice RC Lahoti.
“Is it, or is it not, correct that after that recommendation of the 3 Judge Collegium of the Supreme Court was sent to the Government of India, he (Justice Lahoti), on his own, without consulting his 2 other Supreme Court Collegium colleagues, wrote a letter to the Government of India asking the Government to give another 1 year term as Additional Judge to the concerned Judge?” Justice Katju wrote.
“Is it, or is it not, correct that on my request Justice Lahoti ordered a secret 
IB enquiry against that judge?” he further asked.
“If indeed the IB reported, after an enquiry, that the judge was indulging in corruption, why did he (Justice Lahoti) recommend to the Government of India to give that corrupt judge another term of 1 year as additional judge in the high court?” Katju wrote.
“Is it, or is it not correct, that a few weeks after I personally met him in Delhi and then returned to Chennai, he telephoned me from Delhi (while I was at Chennai) and told me that the IB, after thorough enquiry, gave a report that indeed the Judge was indulging in corruption?” he asked.
Clarifying the timing of the allegations, Justice Katju said, “question is not why I did not make this disclosure earlier, the question is whether what I’m saying is correct or not.”
“Some people have commented about the timing of my statement. What happened was that some Tamilians had commented on Facebook that I am posting several matters on my Facebook post, so I should also post some of my experiences in Madras high court,” he clarified adding, “Then I started posting about my experiences there, and it was at this time I remembered this experience too, and posted it.”
Earlier Justice Lahoti had told NDTV that “Everything is a matter of record. I have never done anything wrong in my life.”
Justice Balakrishnan denied the allegations as saying “completely baseless and not factually correct”.
Meanwhile BJP government asked for a “clarification from Manmohan Singh” over the allegations and called for a better system in appointing the judges.
“On July 16, 2005, another note went indicating some sensitive matters after which the collegium was considered for his extension,” The Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today confirmed Katju’s allegations in the Rajya Sabha.
Tags: justice katju Justice Lahoti justice markandey katju UPA
