The allegations being levelled against the kin of former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan about amassing assets “disproportionate” to their known sources of income has exploded like a bombshell in a community, more used to laying down the law than being scrutinized for fudging the boundaries of the law.
The allegations that the former chief justice’s family became visibly wealthier during the period of his three-year tenure as the head of the judiciary has now raised the pitch for his resignation from the chairmanship of National Human Rights Commission.
As if that were not enough, the open call for Justice Balakrishnan to step down, pending an inquiry into the matter are not being made by voices who can be disregarded. The call is from the most respected men in the profession — former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma, the former apex court Judge V.R. Krishna Iyer, noted jurist Fali S. Nariman, former member of NHRC Sudarshan Agrawal and the prominent activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
Former CJI Verma, Justice Iyer, Nariman and Bhushan have spoken out in public. They have demanded an inquiry into the allegations against the kin of Justice Balakrishnan on how they amassed their assets during the time that he held high constitutional office. Mr Agrawal has directly written a letter to the former CJI, suggesting he face the probe to clear his name. Until then, suggests Agrawal, Balakrishnan should step down from office.
Prashant Bhushan, associated with “Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms” — an organisation of senior Supreme Court advocates and prominent citizens striving for improving the judicial system in the country — has not only sought Justice Balakrishnan’s resignation but went a step further to question his very appointment as NHRC chairman when a complaint against him was pending with the government.
He says that the complaint was sent to Vice-President Hamid Ansari on May 5, 2010 by capital-based journalist M Furquan seeking CBI probe into the assets of Justice Balakrishnan, his family and close relatives. The said complaint was reportedly forwarded to home secretary K.G. Pillai. Furquan also had sent a copy of the complaint to the CBI at its New Delhi headquarters on May 4 and the agency’s ‘Anti-Corruption’ wing had reportedly forwarded it to its Kochi branch on August 10, 2010. “Not only did the government not take any action on the complaint but it kept the post of NHRC chairperson vacant for a year waiting for Justice Balakrishnan’s retirement as CJI so that he could take over the coveted position,” said Bhushan, who had been taking up important public causes through PILs for the past two decades and had been successful in exposing several powerful people through judiciary ordered inquiries.
In this regard, he cited a PIL filed by him in the Delhi High Court more than a year ago seeking the appointment of NHRC chairperson. “The government took nine adjournments in the case to buy time to ensure the appointment of Justice Balakrishnan to the post,” he alleged. While questioning the appointment of Justice Balakrishnan as NHRC chairman, citing the example of former CJI Y.K. Sabharwal, who was not considered for the post merely because of “adverse media reports” against him about the financial dealings of his sons, Bhushan asked why the same criteria was not applied to Justice Balakrishnan by the government.
According to him, the government simply had chosen to “sit over the complaint” but now the same allegations had surfaced in the open with several media organisations in Justice Balakrishnan’s home state of Kerala claiming to have “accessed” crucial documents about the allegedly “disproportionate assets” of his brother K.G. Bhaskaran, sons-in-law P.V. Sreenijan and M.J. Benny. In the face of the serious allegations, Sreenijan had to resign from the membership of Kerala Youth Congress and Bhaskaran from the post of government pleader after state Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan ordered a Vigilance inquiry into the assets of Justice Balakrishnan’s sons-in-law and his brother.
Though Justice Balakrishnan has refused to comment on the allegations and has “distanced” himself from his sons-in-law, saying that it is for them to defend and explain about their wealth, the chorus for the probe into the assets of his close relatives, particularly those acquired in the recent past is becoming “louder” by the day. Several top jurists feel that propriety demands that he should clear his name not only in his own interest but in the interest of the judiciary, which he headed as recently as May 12 when he demitted office.
Both Justice J.S. Verma and Justice Iyer say that the post of NHRC chairman is equally important as it is held only by a former CJI. Justice Verma in fact had himself held the post. In view of this they have asked Justice Balakrishnan to come clean. Echoing the prime minister, they said: "Caesar's wife should be above suspicion" and this principle applies more stringently to those holding important positions in judiciary.
As the controversy raged, threatening to engulf the entire community, a lawyer, Manohar Lal Sharma has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking a probe into the allegations against Justice Balakrishnan’s kin.