Probe Amar’s CD link, Bhushan petitions SC
Lokpal Bill drafting committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan on Monday filed a contempt petition against Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, accusing him of 'fabricating' a CD against him in an 'attempt to derail' the legislation as well as the 2G spectrum case and the 'Amar Singh CD' cases in the nation’s highest court.
In a related development, a lawyer, Manohar Lal Sharma, filed a parallel writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s April 8 notification setting up the 10-member Lokpal Bill drafting committee co-chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Shanti Bhushan, saying no one who was not a member of Parliament could be involved in legislative business.
While seeking quashing of the government notification, Mr Sharma sought a CBI inquiry into the allegations against Mr Shanti Bhushan in the CD — which his son and fellow drafting committee mem-ber Prashant Bhushan has described as 'fabricated'.
Mr Sharma also sought a probe into the alleged 'under-valuing' of a property purchased by the Bhushans in Allahabad, resulting in the payment of a lesser amount registration fees to the Uttar Pradesh government.
Mr Shanti Bhushan, in his petition naming Mr Amar Singh as a respondent, said he was approaching the highest court as “a CD purportedly containing a completely fabricated conversation between (SP leader) Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, which cast aspersions on the judiciary, has been circulated among the media” to derail the bill by “discrediting” members of civil society who were on the panel.Mr Bhushan alleged this had been done with a “malicious intention” to interfere with the administration of justice and was aimed at creating an impression that a particular bench of the Supreme Court, which was seized of the 2G spectrum case and the “Amar Singh CD” case, “can be managed” through his son Prashant Bhushan, and one of the judges of the bench had even been named in the CD.
“The attempt seems to be to try and make the judge to recuse himself from the case by suggesting in the said conversation that Pras-hant Bhushan is on very good terms with the judge and is in a position to influence him,” the petition said.
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