New Delhi: A sitting high court judge, in the first time of India's judicial history, faces arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under corruption charges.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has cleared the decks for registration of a regular case against sitting Allahabad HC judge SN Shukla in a case relating to corruption in medical admissions.
On Tuesday, the CJI responded to a request made by the CBI director regarding registration of a regular case (RC) on the basis of certain evidence collected after lodging of a preliminary enquiry (PE). "After perusing the material, the CJI wrote to the CBI Director am constrained to grant permission to initiate a regular case for investigation," wrote the CJI.
Registration of a regular case will open up the possibility of the CBI interrogating Justice Shukla, and even press for his custodial interrogation before the trial court concerned.
The CJI's step aims at curbing instances of judicial corruption wherein the judges of higher courts, by virtue of their elevated status under the Constitution, are immune from criminal prosecution unless the CJI is satisfied that there is enough material to let an agency probe a judge.
In this case, the CBI director had placed before the CJI various materials, collected during the preliminary enquiry, to satisfy that the PE should be converted into the RC for a comprehensive investigation.
Judicial work from Justice Shukla was withdrawn in January 2018 after an in-house inquiry had held him guilty of judicial impropriety in dealing with a case relating to admissions in a medical college.
Justice Shukla had allegedly favoured a medical college in Lucknow by extending its deadline to admit students even though the Supreme Court had earlier declined this prayer for the same college. Justice Shukla had also written to the CJI, requesting to withdraw the order against him.
Taking a tough stand, CJI Gogoi had not only rejected Justice Shukla's plea but also wrote to the Prime Minister last month, imploring upon him to initiate an impeachment motion against the judge.
A high court judge can be removed only when he is impeached by the Parliament.
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