The Hindu : One Punjab judge exonerated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 15, 2002

Front Page

Front Page

One Punjab judge exonerated

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI Dec. 14. In a significant development, the Chief Justice of India, G. B. Pattanaik, is believed to have exonerated one of the three tainted Punjab High Court Judges, against whom the in-house committee found enough material to show that they had used "undue influence" and "misused their official position" to get jobs for their children and friends in the Punjab Public Service Commission.

Sources said that Justice M. L. Singhal seemed to have been reprimanded and warned by the CJI

to be more careful in future. This decision was taken in view of the fact he was due to retire in March next year. However, the other two judges, Justice Amarbir Singh and Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, had been advised to proceed on leave pending further action.

The CJI's decision is a follow-up to the report submitted by the three-member committee, headed by the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, A. R. Lakshmanan, on December 8. The charge which reportedly has been proved against these judges is that they used "undue influence'' and "misused'' their official position to get higher marks for their candidates, including their children, to obtain jobs in the Service Commission. However, all the beneficiaries have since resigned their jobs.

As per the "in-house'' procedure, if there is substance in the allegations, the two judges have to resign their office or seek voluntary retirement; if they are unwilling to do so, the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned would be advised not to allocate any judicial work to them. The President and the Prime Minister would also be intimated that this was being done because the allegations against the judges have been found by the committee to be serious enough to warrant impeachment proceedings.

Meanwhile, there has been a demand from the Bar in the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the CJI who had taken swift action to arrive at the truth in the allegations against the three judges should make public the contents of the report.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Anees Ibrahim whisked away to Pakistan?

CBI jolted, seeks confirmation from UAE

Two LeT terrorists killed in Delhi encounter

Masood Azhar released on Lahore High Court's order

Charges not pursued seriously: India

One Punjab judge exonerated

Counting today

Missile recovered

Yemen takes delivery