JOIN USA lawyer on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court seeking a high-level inquiry into its former judge Markandey Katju’s allegations of three former CJIs making “improper compromises” with regard to the appointment of a Madras High Court judge.
Katju, who is currently the chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI), had stirred up a controversy after he accused three former Chief Justices of India (CJIs) of appointing a particular judge despite “adverse” intelligence reports.
The PCI chairman alleged that due to political pressure from a Tamil Nadu party, the “corrupt” judge was confirmed as permanent and later transferred to the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Katju claimed that the appointment was made in 2004 during the UPA-I regime, as an alliance party in Tamil Nadu had threatened to pull down the Congress-led government by withdrawing its support.
In a PIL, advocate N Rajaraman pointed out that there was a need to conduct a thorough probe into the interference with judicial appointments as Justice Katju “disclosed” in a blog post on Monday.
The petitioner sought direction for a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge, along with the assistance of the law ministry and home ministry, in order to uphold the constitutional principles of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.
Rajaraman said that he had already made a representation to the President to remove Justice K G Balakrishnan from the post of chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.
“The manner of extension of the tenure of the high court judge speaks volumes of the kind of political interference that existed in judicial appointments,” the petitioner claimed.
Rajaraman said that the fair probe was required to ensure that the confidence of the public in the collegium system was not undermined by unscrupulous politicians through illegal interference.