Centre gives clean chit to ex-CJI in assets case

Probe against Balakrishnan's kin yielded nothing, says govt

The Centre on Tuesday gave a clean chit to former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice K G Balakrishnan before the Supreme Court in a case relating to ‘benami’ property transactions.

It said the income-tax probe into the assets of his kith and kin “yielded nothing”.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi also submitted before a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh that holding CBI enquiries against former CJIs would set a dangerous precedent.

The court, however, observed: “if persons earning Rs 100 buy properties worth Rs 10 lakh, the source of the money should be investigated.”

Rohatgi, on his part, maintained: “There cannot be roving CBI inquires where criminal law is set in motion. The person concerned was the Chief Justice of this court. This may open the Pandora’s box.”

“There are allegations of financial misdemeanor. Same kind of allegations were made against another former CJI by the same petitioner. That CJI recently passed away,” he added. The top law officer of the country was responding to an order of September 15, last year, by the court seeking his assistance on a plea by lawyer Prashant Bhushan on behalf of the NGO, Common Cause.

The NGO sought a CBI probe into alleged amassing of wealth by the kith and kin of Balakrishnan during his tenure as the CJI from January 2007 to May 2010.

Rohatgi said he would file the status report on the inquiries conducted by the I-T  authorities.

Justice Balakrishnan retired as the NHRC chief in May this year.

During the hearing, Rohatgi also said nothing has survived in the petition filed by the NGO while maintaining that the brother and son-in-law of the former CJI were practising lawyers and “several intricacies of their earning cannot be gone into” at face value.

The NGO sought preliminary enquiry into the charges of disproportionate assets under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the former CJI.