The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it is probing into allegations of former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan and his relatives amassing disproportionate assets during his tenure as judge.
The Centre also submitted a probe status report to the Court in a sealed envelope.
Appearing before a Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati said the Income Tax Department is currently engaged in assessing the properties of Justice Balakrishnan’s sons-in-law and brother.
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The Bench, after going through the report, asked the government what further action it intended to take and granted it three weeks’ time to apprise the court.
The court’s direction came during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by civil society Common Cause, which alleged that Justice Balakrishnan and his relatives had amassed wealth far exceeding their legal income during his tenure as Chief Justice.
The PIL sought the Supreme Court’s direction to the government to take proper action against the ex-CJI, who is presently chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
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