First probe against judges

New Delhi, Sept. 23: As many as 24 judges, including one from the Supreme Court, will be investigated by the CBI following an unprecedented judicial decision. The Supreme Court passed the order today in the multi-crore Ghaziabad court treasury scam. Earlier probe orders were administrative in nature, issued by the judges who headed the courts where the allegations surfaced. The FIR filed in the local police station at Ghaziabad accused lower court staff of having siphoned off crores from employees’ provident fund between 1995 and 2001. Part of the money was allegedly used to give gifts — ACs, furniture and other household items — to their superiors. At least 13 high court judges and one Supreme Court judge were said to have received the favours. The FIR has named 82 people in connection with the withdrawals. No FIR has been registered against the 10 serving district judges, seven sitting high court judges and the lone sitting apex court judge, or against the six retired high court judges and two retired district judges. Police were hemmed in by an earlier Supreme Court judgment that held that no FIR could be filed against a judge without permission from the Chief Justice of India. Ghaziabad police had written to Supreme Court Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan a few months back seeking his permission for the probe but were only allowed to send questionnaires outlining specific charges. Balakrishnan had, in an administrative decision, said he would permit interrogation of specific judges if their answers were found unsatisfactory. Today, an apex court bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat directed the CBI to take over the probe from Uttar Pradesh police. The order came after it heard arguments from local lawyer Nahar Singh Yadav and a colleague on behalf of the local bar association, which filed a public interest plea seeking an investigation by the agency. The Uttar Pradesh government, whose nod was required for the CBI to step in, had agreed to the move a fortnight back. The bench asked the agency to take all records related to the case into its possession immediately. The agency was also told to microfilm the documents to prevent tampering. The apex court clarified that there were no limitations to the CBI probe into the scam or any scam-related transaction. The agency has been asked to submit its report within three months. The bench also clarified that its earlier judgment barring registering of FIRs applied to sitting, not retired, judges. It said it would decide whether FIRs should be registered against the sitting judges once it received the CBI report.

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