Raja phone call case : Justice Gokhale contradicts former CJI
December 14th, 2010 - 5:44 pm ICT by ANINew Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): Senior Supreme Court Judge, Justice H L Gokhale, on Tuesday contradicted the claim of former Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, that he was not aware of the fact that former Telecom Minister A Raja had tried to influence a Madras High Court judge in a criminal case.
Justice Gokhale, who was the chief justice of the Madras High Court then said, in a statement said that he had clearly referred to the name of Raja in his letter to Justice Balakrishnan, who was the CJI then.
Justice Gokhale’s statement has come as an embarrassment for Justice Balakrishnan, as he totally contradicts Justice Balakrishnan’s claim that there was no mention of any Union Minister in the report sent by Justice Gokhale, then High Court Chief Justice, on Justice S Reghupathi episode.
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson and former Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, on December 8 said he had not received any letter or communication from Madras High Court Justice R. Reghupathi in connection with an allegation that A. Raja had tried to influence him (Reghupathi), and that he (Balakrishnan) had suppressed that letter.
Rejecting media aspersions that he had committed a dereliction of duty, Justice Balakrishnan said: “I regret to say that the allegations are absolutely incorrect. When this incident was reported in the media, I sought for a report from the then Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice Gokhale and he sent me a report wherein nothing was mentioned about any Union Minister having made a telephonic talk with Justice Reghupathi to influence him.”
“Therefore, there was no occasion for me to talk to the Prime Minister or to take any further action. I had disclosed these facts at the relevant time. Moreover, if anything happened like that which amounted to interference in the judicial function of Justice Reghupathi, he himself could have exercised his powers of contempt of court for which no permission is required from the Chief Justice of India,” an NHRC release quoted him, as saying further. (ANI)
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- Madras High Court judge did not complain to me: Balakrishnan - Dec 08, 2010
- Interfering minister's name was not shared: Balakrishnan (Lead) - Dec 08, 2010
- Did not suppress Madras High Court chief's report: Balakrishnan (Lead) - Dec 15, 2010
- Remove Balakrishnan as NHRC chief: Prashant Bhushan - Dec 28, 2010
- Did not suppress Madras High Court chief's report: Balakrishnan - Dec 15, 2010
- Top judges spar, Gokhale takes on Balakrishnan - Dec 14, 2010
- Top law official suspended, Raja denies wrongdoing - Dec 07, 2010
- Refer allegations against Balakrishnan to apex court, president urged - Apr 05, 2011
- Top law official suspended, Raja denies wrongdoing (Lead) - Dec 07, 2010
- Apex court seeks report on plaint against Balakrishnan (Lead) - Feb 18, 2011
- Government should persuade Balakrishnan to step down: Former CJI - Jun 26, 2011
- SC tells government to decide on Balakrishnan case (Lead) - May 10, 2012
Tags: allegation, aspersions, chairperson, chief justice of india, contempt, court justice, criminal case, december 8, dereliction of duty, embarrassment, gokhale, human rights commission, judicial function, madras high court, national human rights commission, New Delhi, nhrc, relevant time, supreme court judge, union minister