The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms (CJAR) has requested President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a Supreme Court reference for an inquiry into alleged misbehaviour by Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, and former Chief Justice of India, under Section 5(1) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
In identical letters written to them, the CJAR referred to alleged benami properties in the names of Justice Balakrishnan's kin and said “this amassing of wealth beyond the known source of their income” needed to be probed.
“Further, during Mr. Justice Balakrishnan's tenure as CJI, the Supreme Court collegium recommended the name of Justice P.D. Dinakaran along with the Chief Justices of four other High Courts in August 2009 for elevation as Supreme Court judge. In spite of representations made by the Bar Association of India, the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Forum for Judicial Accountability and many noted jurists, Justice Balakrishnan resisted all the attempts to stop the elevation of Justice Dinakaran and in fact made every effort to elevate him.” The CJAR also criticised Justice Balakrishnan's role in an episode in which the former Union Minister, A. Raja, allegedly tried to interfere in the judicial functioning of a Madras High Court judge.
