Union law and justice minister Veerappa Moily on Thursday clarified that the name of former telecom minister A. Raja did not figure in the letter written by the former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan to him in August 2009. “I wrote to the then Chief Justice of India Justice Balakrishnan to which he responded. The name of any minister did not figure in the correspondence. This is a matter of fact. There is no controversy at all,” Mr Moily clarified.
The law minister was referring to the correspondence between him and the CJI after a group of MPs had submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh alleging Raja had attempted to influence a Madras high court judge. “No, I am sorry, he has not taken any name, or my name. There is nothing wrong,” Mr Moily stated. The law minister added that when the issue of the memorandum was referred to the law ministry, he had written to Mr Balakrishnan to seek his response.
The Mr Moily’s response comes after Justice Balakrishnan had in a statement on Wednesday stated that the then Chief Justice of Madras high court H.L. Gokahle had not mentioned the name of any minister in his report on the alleged incident.
The former CJI had also claimed that he had brought the facts to the notice of the law minister.