Southern States - Karnataka   

CJ invites information on 'sex scandal'

By A. Jayaram

Bangalore Nov. 10. In a significant development regarding the alleged sex scandal involving some judges, the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Nagendra Kumar Jain, on Sunday, invited information or material from any member of the public regarding the same.

In a press statement, A.C. Kabbin, Registrar-General of the High Court, said: "The Honourable Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court has taken serious note of the newspaper reports alleging an incident in a resort at Mysore involving persons from the legal fraternity. The question whether any such incident took place as reported is under verification. Until now, except rumours, no material has come to light to substantiate the alleged incident. Having regard to the gravity of the allegations, the Honourable Chief Justice desires that any person having first hand information or material may furnish the same to the Registrar (Vigilance), High Court of Karnataka, KGID Building, Bangalore-560 001 on or before November 16, 2002." Meanwhile, the new Chief Justice of India, G.B. Pattanaik, is stated to have sought a report on the incident from the High Court.

However, the Mysore Police continue to maintain that no incident involving judges has taken place in the city. On Saturday, the Home Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, said that acting on newspaper reports, he had sought a report from the Mysore Police. The High Court is reopening on Monday after the Dasara vacation. Apart from the Advocates' Association of Bangalore, which has sought a CBI inquiry into the alleged incident, some advocates are also stated to have written to the Chief Justice of India seeking an inquiry. With the political parties already seizing the matter, a public debate is in the offing.

Meanwhile, there is a view that if the police are on firm ground, nothing prevents them from prosecuting the erring judges. However, the sanction of the President has to be obtained in the case of judges of the High Court and that of the Governor in the case of judicial officers. There is also the view that as the matter involves the conduct or misconduct of judges, no contempt of court arises if the names of the erring persons are revealed by an independent investigator, despite police denial of the incident. It is worth mentioning that the Supreme Court, at a meeting of the full court on May 7, 1997, adopted a "Restatement of Values of Judicial Life''. It had been adopted after considering the views of the high courts to serve as a guide to be observed by judges. It had said among others that the behaviour and conduct of members of the higher judiciary must reaffirm the people's faith in the impartiality of the judiciary. Accordingly, any act of a judge, whether in official or personal capacity, which erodes the credibility of this perception has to be avoided.

Earlier in September 1995, the Supreme Court (Justice K. Ramaswamy) said that bad conduct of a judge could best be disciplined by self-regulation through in-house procedure, though there might some other means to ensure that judges did not abuse the trust society had in them. The case related to a public interest litigation which among others had sought a CBI inquiry into an allegation against a former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, Bhattacharjee, that he had entered into an agreement with a London publisher against a huge royalty for the publication of his book, Muslim and the Constitution.

Mr. Justice Ramaswamy averred: "Where the complaint relates to the judge of a High Court, the Chief Justice of that court, after verification and, if necessary, after confidential inquiry from his independent source, should satisfy himself about the truth of the imputation made by the Bar Association through its office-bearers against the judge and consult the Chief Justice of India, where deemed necessary by placing all the information with him.''

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