CJAR Press Release

16-1-2018

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability & Reforms (CJAR) held a press conference to share the complaint it has filed against the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to the 5 senior most judges after the CJI, under the in-house procedure. In response to demands from many journalists and in the interest of transparency, CJAR has put the complaint in the public domain (http://judicialreforms.org/cjar-complaint-cji-house-procedure/) and held the Press Conference at the Press Club today.

The press conference was addressed by Prashant Bhushan and Anjali Bhardwaj (members of the CJAR Executive Committee).

The complaint highlights instances of apparent misconduct by the Chief Justice of India. The key charges contained in the complaint against the CJI are-

1. The manner in which the case of the Prasad Education Trust was dealt with by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in which case the CBI has registered an FIR regarding an alleged conspiracy to bribe judges of the Supreme Court to secure favourable judgments. Phone transcripts available with the CBI of conversations between a retired judge, middlemen and representatives of the medical college show discussion about amount of bribe, dates and progress of the case being discussed. The discussions on the tapped transcripts line up with the progress of the case. The case was dealt with on all dates by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.

2. CJI dealt with the petitions demanding court monitored probe into this conspiracy, both on the administrative and judicial side, violating the fundamental principle of jurisprudence that no person shall be a Judge in his own cause.

3. Denial of permission to the CBI to register an FIR against Justice Narayan Shukla of the Allahabad High Court and attempting to stall all further investigation in this matter by the CBI.

4. That the Chief Justice of India appears to have antedated an administrative order dated 6^th November 2017 which amounts to a serious act of forgery/fabrication

5. That Chief Justice Dipak Misra acquired land while he was an advocate, by giving an affidavit that was found to be false and despite the orders of the ADM cancelling the allotment in 1985, surrendered the said land only in 2012 after he was elevated to the Supreme Court

In addition, the campaign put forth the following issues-

1. The in-house complaint mechanism is silent on the procedure for complaints against the CJI. Senior judges of the SC must evolve a mechanism for complaints against the CJI

2. To prevent matters being selectively sent to particular hand picked benches, there is an urgent need for norms and rules which lay down clear guidelines for allocation of benches, which are fair, rational and transparent.

3. The campaign is concerned about transparency in functioning of the Supreme Court – The Memorandum of Procedure for Appointment of Judges needs to be put in the public domain.

4. The RTI Act must apply in letter and spirit to the Supreme Court which has been resisting transparency under the RTI Act. CJAR believes that transparency is key for public’s trust and faith in judiciary.