JOIN USDays after four senior Supreme Court judges rebelled against Chief Justice Dipak Mishra over the allocation of work and other issues, Prashant Bhushan-led NGO on Tuesday sought a probe against the top judge on charges of misconduct in dealing with the medical college scam case.
The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) has filed a complaint with five senior most judges in the Supreme Court against the Chief Justice, saying an investigation is needed to ascertain his role in the alleged irregularities following emergence of "prima facie evidence" though the charges have "not been proved till now".
Bhushan said they have filed the complaint on Monday and in the 24-page complaint with separate annexures, details of four charges of misconduct have been given.
The complaint has been addressed to Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur, Kurien Joseph - who on Friday held a press conference against the Chief Justice - and A K Sikri.
"It is not proved till now that the Chief Justice is involved in a conspiracy...But there is prima facie evidence that there was some involvement of the Chief Justice in the matters we have raised. That is why there is a need for an investigation," Bhushan told at a press conference.
Asked whether the Chief Justice should have resigned after the judges' press meet, he said, "once the four seior most judges had expressed strong lack of confidence...I feel the Chief Justice should have resigned."
The CJAR, in the complaint, has found fault with the manner in which Justice Mishra handled the case seeking a probe into allegations of corruption against higher judiciary in a medical college scam case. The CBI is probing the case in which a former High Court judge I M Quddussi has already been arrested.
It said Justice Mishra dealt on the administrative as well as judicial side of a writ petition which sought an investigation into a matter in which he "too was likely to fall within the scope of investigation". It also accused him of not giving the nod to CBI to probe a sitting High Court judge whom investigators felt was involved in this case.
Another allegation by CJAR was that Justice Mishra had acquired land while he was an advocate by giving a "false" affidavit. It claimed that despite cancellation of allotment in 1985, he surrendered the property only in 2012 after he was elevated to Supreme Court.