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Prez stalls top judge's appointment
Published on Fri, Feb 16, 2007 at 08:34, Updated on Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 04:41 in India section
Tags: APJ Abdul Kalam, Kerala , New Delhi
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| If the Supreme Court collegium returns the file to Kalam he will have no option but to sign it.
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| Bhalla is alleged to have ordered the constitution of a bench to hear a petition filed by Reliance Energy. |
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| Jagdish Bhalla's wife Renu Bhalla bought 7,200 square metres of land from Noida's land mafia. |
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New Delhi: Justice Jagdish Bhalla, a judge of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, is in deep trouble. His appointment as chief justice of Kerala High Court has been stalled with President APJ Abdul Kalam raising questions about corruption charges faced by the judge.
This is not Bhalla’s first brush with controversy. Earlier also he had faced charges of corruption and this time it is over the Reliance Energy plant coming up in Dadri near Delhi.
Bhalla is alleged to have ordered the constitution of a special bench to hear a petition filed by Reliance Energy.
However, the judge’s jurisdiction does not extend to Dadri as he heads the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.
The charges don’t stop at that – the writ petition submitted to the bench did not have a number considered mandatory. And the counsel for Reliance Energy was Justice Bhalla's son, Aarohi Bhalla.
“He constituted a bench to decide this matter at midnight at the residence of one of the judges. Then the bench gave a favourable order to Reliance and on the strength of which the police came and beat up the villagers who were protesting the acquisition of land by Reliance Energy. The police even prevented VP Singh from reaching the spot,” member, Commitee on Judicial Accountability, Prashant Bhushan explains.
Now, this fresh charge has been forwarded to the Chief Justice of India.
Bhalla was to be elevated as Chief Justice of Kerala before Kalam returned his file unsigned to the Prime Minister’s Office. Even Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has forwarded a file to Union Law Minister in this regard.
However, the UP Bar Council says that this is a conspiracy against Justice Bhalla.
“Some Supreme Court advocates don't want Justice Bhalla elevated to the Supreme Court and this is a conspiracy hatched by them against the judge,” says Chairman, UP Bar Council, Ajay Yadav.
Murky past
According to an inquiry done by the Gautambudh Nagar SDM, Jagdish Bhalla's wife Renu Bhalla bought 7,200 square metres of land from the land mafia near the Noida expressway.
While the market price was Rs 7.2 crore, all that Renu Bhalla paid was Rs 5 lakh.
The SDM report was, however, set aside by the Board of Revenue headed by former chief secretary, Neera Yadav.
Faced with this fresh charge, thoroughly agitated Law Minister HR Bhardwaj told CNN-IBN, “This is a wastage of time.”
Despite charges of corruption being levelled time and again, the judiciary has seldom been questioned closely. Even the President cannot really stop Justice Bhalla's appointment.
If the Supreme Court collegium returns the file to Kalam without any alterations he will have no option but to sign it.
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The PM and LawMin dont decide on appointments and promotions.
Chief judges' decision is final.
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What is the use of having a President if the person cannot exercise his/her supreme authority?.The system should alow for
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The SC should consider the objections raised by the Prez,before taking up the file for reconsideration.Can we have the presiding
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Sick politicians (Look at the comment of law minister! A man who allowed Quattrochi to run away with corruption money
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If there are such grave corruption charges against him then how is it that he still holds a responsible position?
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