Dhananjay Mahapatra/TNN
New Delhi, Nov 10: Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has cracked the whip in the Rs 23 crore Ghaziabad PF scam allegedly involving 34 judges from all three tiers of judiciary.
The first casualty is Justice A K Singh of Allahabad high court who will be asked to say goodbye to the judiciary from next week. The CJI made up his mind after seeing the damning in-house report against Justice Singh. An additional judge, Singh is certain not to be confirmed now.
"There are two more judges of the Allahabad HC who are on the radar for their involvement in the PF scam. But as they are permanent judges, they have to be dealt with differently," the CJI said in an exclusive conversation with TOI.
While an additional judge can be made to go just by not renewing his judgeship, for the removal of a permanent judge, the cumbersome procedure of impeachment has to be followed.
"We will deal with all those judges against whom the in-house inquiry has found evidence. Many transfers will be effected. Every step will be taken to rid the judiciary of corrupt elements," Justice Balakrishnan said.
The CJI has experience of dealing with corruption in judiciary. While he has secured the resignations of some by confronting them with strong evidence stacked against them, the stubborn ones — like Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court who refused to resign — had been recommended for impeachment.
"Corruption cannot be tolerated in judiciary whatever be the cost," said the CJI striking an unusually tough note.
"That is the reason why we recently tightened the procedure for selecting HC judges by making the inquiry about their personal antecedents more detailed. This is to avoid discovering a black sheep at a later stage, when very little can be done, except resorting to the impeachment process," he said.
The Ghaziabad PF scam dented the image of judiciary, with the UP police disclosing the strong evidence on the alleged involvement of 34 judges involved in the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 23 crore from the provident fund of class III and IV employees in Ghaziabad judiciary.
Those accused included a judge in Supreme Court, 8 in Allahabad HC, one each in Uttarakhand and Calcutta HCs and 23 lower court judges. The matter was referred to the CBI after UP police expressed its inability to investigate HC judges in various states.
"The CBI is yet to give a report. Once it provides the details of evidence in the case and seeks permission to chargesheet those involved, we will take appropriate action," the CJI said.
The Ghaziabad SSP had given an outline of his investigation details to his superiors which was produced before the apex court.