S.O.

S e - Voice For Justice - e-news weekly

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Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.13..Issue.26........01 / 07 / 2017

Editorial : Karnan Jailed ? Why NOT Khehar ?

The ugly Karnan vs Khehar episode could have been avoided , if supreme
court judges did their duties , as per constitution of india. First of all when Justice
Karnan sent a letter leveling corruption allegations against high ranking judges
and Atrocities on Dalit judge Karnan, CJI & Supreme court should have
immediately ordered for an impartial enquiry as per law. However CJI & Supreme
court judges took the wrong path , didnt take any action and shielded the
criminal judges.

When Karnan persisted with his allegations with other constitutional

authorities , CJI & Supreme court tried to silence him by transfer , subsequently
by stripping him of judicial powers virtually removing him as a judge although
technically he remained as a judge in service register. Only Indian Parliament &
President of India has the constitutional power to remove a High court or
Supreme Court judge from office , nobody else.

As CJI & Supreme Court took unconstitutional , illegal steps to shield

criminal judges , Justice Karnan to match them too took wrong path crossing his
boundaries for his own survival.

Finally , CJI & Supreme Court took ultimate illegal path of jailing a High
court judge without enquiring into his allegations , without proper cross
examination & no findings , judgement copy. Dalit Judge Justice Karnan dont
have caste power nor power of lobby , therefore he was an easy prey for corrupt
judicial mafia.

CJI Karnan & Supreme Court Judges have now set a precedent that a
Constitutional authority , High court / Supreme Court Judge can be legally
prosecuted & jailed without sanction of Indian parliament.
 Now refer the following cases of grave crimes by Judges. Why not they are
legally prosecuted & sent to jail in the same fashion as karnan. Why NOT start
with CJI Khehar facing corruption charges , judgement fixing charges himself ?

Yours

Nagaraja M R

Tail piece : True independence is not achieved till these corrupt parasites are
weeded out from government.

JAIL CJI Khehar

https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/jail-cji-khehar ,

Judges & Sex Crime

https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/judges-sex-crimes ,

Traitors in Judiciary & Police

https://www.scribd.com/document/329980170/Traitors-in-Judiciary-Police ,

Crimes by Khaki

https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/crimes-by-khaki

FIRST Answer Judges Police

https://www.scribd.com/document/336585411/FIRST-Answer-Judges-Police
CJI Khehar Answer

https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/cji-khehar-answer ,

Judiciary Does Not Want Any Accountability or Transparency, Allege RTI Activists

BY GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR

The RTI Act has faced resistance from the courts in recent years, especially when
information is sought about their functioning as public authorities, a new report says.

The jury is out on whether the judiciary has over the years played the role it ought to while
dealing with matters pertaining to promoting transparency in general and the Right to
Information (RTI) Act in particular. Legal luminaries and RTI activists alike believe the courts
must play a more supportive role if greater transparency in public life is to be achieved.

A recent report titled Tilting the Balance of Power Adjudicating the RTI Act by the Satark
Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and the Research, Assessment and Analysis Group (RaaG), notes
that before the RTI law was passed, the judiciary played a seminal role in recognising and
furthering peoples right to information in India. In fact, as far back as 1975, 30 years before
the RTI law was enacted, the Supreme Court adjudged the right to information to be a
fundamental right.
Besides being the final adjudicatory authority for the law, the Supreme Court and high
courts are also public authorities under the RTI Act. The report, authored by RTI activists
Amrita Johri, Anjali Bhardwaj and Shekhar Singh, suggests that the RTI Act appears to be
facing resistance from the courts, especially when information is sought about their
functioning as public authorities.

Is RTI facing resistance from the judiciary?

In the last ten years, scores of RTI applications have been filed by citizens seeking
information from the courts, many of which have required judicial adjudication. Five such
matters reached the Supreme Court, three of which were referred to a constitution bench
that is yet to be set up. The other two cases were dismissed by the apex court at the stage
of admission. About the cases that were dismissed, the RaaG-SNS report notes:

Unfortunately, these cases raised matters of great public interest but were dismissed by
the SC without providing any details or reasons in their orders. One of them sought
information using the RTI Act, about cases pending with the Supreme Court in which the
arguments had already been heard but orders had been reserved. In the other matter, the
applicant sought the total amount of medical expenses of individual judges reimbursed by
the Supreme Court, citing a Delhi high court ruling of 2010 which stated that, The
information on the expenditure of the government money in an official capacity cannot be
termed as personal information.

Information denied on appointment of judges

In one of the three cases referred to the constitution bench, an RTI applicant filed a request
to the Supreme Court in 2009 seeking a copy of the complete correspondence, with file
notings, exchanged between the chief justice of India (CJI) and other concerned
constitutional authorities relating to the appointment of Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice A. K.
Ganguly and Justice R.M. Lodha as judges of the Supreme Court, superseding the seniority
of Justice A.P. Shah, Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice V.K. Gupta. The information sought
was denied. When the Central Information Commission (CIC) directed that the information
be furnished, the information officer of the apex court appealed directly to the Supreme
Court against the order.

CIC order on assets of judges challenged before apex court

In the second case, the RTI applicant asked if any declaration of assets was ever filed by
the judges of the Supreme Court or high courts to the respective CJIs. The Supreme Courts
1997 resolution requires judges to declare to the CJI the assets held by them in their own
name, in the name of their spouse or any person dependent on them. The information was
denied but the CIC directed that the information sought by the applicant be provided. The
CIC order was challenged by the Supreme Court in the Delhi high court, which held that the
contents of asset declarations were entitled to be treated as personal information
under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, but since the applicant only sought to know whether the
1997 resolution was complied with, the sought information should be provided. A three-
judge bench of the high court stated:

A judge must keep himself absolutely above suspicion, to preserve the impartiality and
independence of the judiciary and to have the public confidence thereof.Accountability of
the judiciary cannot be seen in isolation. It must be viewed in the context of a general trend
to render governors answerable to the people in ways that are transparent, accessible and
effective. Well defined and publicly known standards and procedures complement, rather
than diminish, the notion of judicial independence. Democracy expects openness and
openness is concomitant of free society. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

This judgement was subsequently challenged by the chief public information officer before
the Supreme Court.
In the third case, quoting a media report, an RTI application was filed with the Supreme
Court seeking copies of correspondence between the then CJI and a judge of the Madras
high court regarding the attempt of a union minister to influence judicial decisions of the said
high court. The applicant also sought information regarding the name of the concerned
union minister. The CIC, in its order, overturned the decision of the public information officer,
which denied the information sought. Bypassing the Delhi high court, the public information
officer of the Supreme Court directly moved a petition before the SC challenging the CIC
order to disclose information.

Three cases clubbed together

In its order, the Supreme Court, while hearing the case related to correspondence between
the CJI and other constitutional authorities about the appointment of judges, clubbed the
other two cases with the matter. The apex court order stated that the consideration of a
larger bench was required as grave constitutional issues were at stake, including the need
to balance the independence of the judiciary and the fundamental constitutional right of
citizens to freedom of speech and expression.

The court listed three sets of questions which, according to them, raised substantial
questions of law as to the interpretation of the constitution:

Whether the concept of independence of judiciary requires and demands the

prohibition of furnishing of the information sought? Whether the information sought for
amounts to interference in the functioning of the judiciary?

Whether the information sought for cannot be furnished to avoid any erosion in the
credibility of the decisions and to ensure a free and frank expression of honest opinion by all
the constitutional functionaries, which is essential for effective consultation and for taking
the right decision?

Whether the information sought for is personal information and therefore exempt
under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act?
The report by RaaG and SNS notes that while the first two sets of questions do seem to
relate to constitutional issues, like the adverse impact peoples right to information might
have on judicial independence, or amount to interference in the functioning of the judiciary,
or compromise its credibility, it is not clear how the third question relating to exemption on
grounds that it is personal information under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act raises any
constitutional concerns.

The report goes on to highlight the contradictions inherent in the stand taken by courts in
these matters by quoting judgements of the Supreme Court in which the court has itself
discussed one or more of these issues in relation to the judiciary and other public
functionaries and ruled in favour of transparency. For instance, the Supreme Court
in Manohar s/o Manikrao Anchule vs State of Maharashtra & Anr in 2012 stated that It
cannot be doubted that transparency is the sine qua non of restraint on abuse of judicial
powers. Transparency in decision-making not only makes the judges and decision-makers
less prone to errors but also makes them subject to broader scrutiny.

In Union of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms , 2002, the court directed the
Election Commission to call for information from all candidates seeking election to
parliament or a state legislature, and from their spouses and dependants, about their assets
as, there are widespread allegations of corruption against the persons holding post and
power. In such a situation, question is not of knowing personal affairs but to have openness
in democracy for attempting to cure cancerous growth of corruptions by few rays of light.
Hence, citizens who elect MPs or MLAs are entitled to know that their representative has
not miscomputed himself in collecting wealth after being elected.

In PUCL vs Union of India in 2003, while examining the plea that contesting candidates
should not be required to disclose the assets and liabilities of their spouses as it would
violate the right to privacy of the spouses, the Supreme Court held that the fundamental
right to information of a voter and citizen is promoted when contesting candidates are
required to disclose the assets and liabilities of their spouses. The SC ruled that when there
is a competition between the right to privacy of an individual and the right to information of
the citizens, the former right has to be subordinated to the latter right, as the latter serves a
larger public interest.

Similarly, to ensure transparency and improve the process of selection of judges in

Supreme Court in Advocates-on-Record Association and Ors. vs Union of India in 2015 , a
five-judge bench laid down broad guidelines for the government of India which was tasked
with the responsibility of preparing the Memorandum of Procedure for the appointment of
judges. Among other things, the guidelines stated that the eligibility criteria and procedure
for selection of judges must be transparent and put up on the website of the court
concerned and the department of justice. In addition, they required the provision of an
appropriate procedure for minuting the discussions including recording the dissenting
opinion of the judges in the collegium.

Supreme Courts changing position

Former information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi believes the Supreme Courts stance
towards RTI has changed in the past few years.

If I look at the Supreme Court judgments on transparency and Right to Information before
the Act came in 2005 and after the Act, it looks like these are two different countries, two
different courts, he said. Gandhi said he had earlier come out with another report which
showed how out of 17 orders of the SC on RTI, in only two it ordered information to be
given.

On what could have prompted the change, he said, I can guess very easily. Before the RTI
Act came freedom of speech was fine but nobody questioned the court and nobody tried to
find out anything about the courts and people would only say, I have great faith in the
judiciary. The Right to Information for the first time changed that paradigm. A reporter of
any newspaper would be wary of what he writes as far as the judiciary is concerned. But
RTI people started asking all kind of inconvenient questions. And some things have come
out which have been very unpalatable, to say the least.

Gandhi said now the judiciary refuses to look at RTI applications that have anything to do
with them. When you are in a public office and right to information is there, people will ask
all kinds of things. When I was a commissioner, someone had filed an RTI application
asking how much bribe Shailesh Gandhi has taken in the last two years. Now, things like
this can be upsetting to people. And in my opinion, that is why they have gone against
transparency and RTI Act.

He said that often the judiciary has been very direct in showing its anger against the RTI. In
the first CBSE judgment, they said RTI should not be allowed to damage the peace,
integrity and harmony of India. Such a view is okay for terrorists, but not for citizens. I have
noticed over time that everyone in power dislikes being transparent.

Recalling how the website of the Supreme Court was probably the best which existed under
Section 4(1)(b) when he was the chief information commissioner, the first chief of the CIC,
Wajahat Habibullah said he also, however, understands that having a website and making
disclosures are two different things. And therefore it is quite possible that in this case the
Supreme Court has not been very favourably inclined towards the RTI. It simply means that
the current phase of RTI in the courts is one that is defensive. It is not anti-RTI, it is more
defensive in terms of the openness of the RTI.

Judiciary too resists accountability

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan concurred that the judiciary too does not like
transparency when it concerns its own accountability. Unfortunately we have seen that
when it comes to themselves, the courts do not want any accountability or any transparency
and this we have seen in all kinds of issues.
For example, he said, in judicial appointments, the court shies away from transparency, by
and large, some judges are exceptions who ask for it, but otherwise they dont want
transparency. Same thing happens with accountability. They dont want any accountability
and, in fact, they have progressively whittled down their accountability.

Habibullah believes that at the moment RTI is facing challenges.

When I was there [as the Chief Information Commissioner] my dealing was basically at the
high court level as there were few cases in the Supreme Court then. The high court
decisions were generally very supportive of the RTI. It was the time of the actual
establishment of the jurisdiction or expanse of the RTI and these orders were very
constructive. Now it is passing through a different phase where there has been some sort of
a retreat, he said.

Public pressure can change the tune

Bhushan said the judiciary has also very often taken contempt action against people who
have written anything against the judiciary or the judges. Therefore, it is very clear that by
and large judges do not want any accountability, nor any transparency. And that is why now
that the RTI Act has also been applied to them they are passing judicial orders basically
obstructing the orders of the CIC. This is what has happened. Ultimately these matters are
for the courts to decide. But once there is sufficient public opinion then probably they will
change their tune.

According to Bhardwaj of SNS, given the extremely progressive orders related to

transparency by the Supreme Court before the RTI Act was passed, people expect the
judiciary to champion the cause of transparency and expand the scope of the law. The
reluctance of the judiciary to submit itself to the RTI Act is very concerning and we really
hope that the constitution bench will give a progressive ruling on the questions referred to it.
One of the main objectives of the RaaG-SNS report is to provoke a public debate on the
manner in which the RTI Act is being interpreted by the adjudicators and to mobilise public
opinion to demand greater openness in the functioning of all public authorities including the
courts.

Dushyant Dave speaks on Puls suicide note, Sahara-Birla and Supreme Court

A few weeks ago, a suicide note purportedly written by late Arunachal Pradesh Chief
Minister Kalikho Pul raised more than a few eyebrows amongst the legal fraternity. The
note, which first surfaced about six months after Puls suicide, made some shocking
allegations against sitting and retired Supreme Court judges, lawyers and politicians.

Quite astonishingly, the national media, which usually goes into top gear at the drop of a
hat, chose to maintain silence over the issue.

And then something interesting happened.

Puls widow, Dangwimsai Pul, wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India JS Khehar seeking his
permission for the registration of an FIR on the basis of the allegations made in the suicide
note, putting the CJI in an awkward situation.

Surprisingly, the letter was converted into a petition and was listed before a bench of
Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit.

That is when Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave took up the matter and appeared for
Dangwimsai Pul in the Supreme Court. Bar & Benchs Pallavi Saluja spoke to Dave on this
controversial issue and Sahara-Birla judgment.

I think the developments over the last few weeks have shaken me. I respect judiciary
immensely. I love the judiciary. I have been a judges son, I have been a lawyer for 38 years
and I dont know where we are heading with this kind of a judiciary. Its very difficult for
people to really get justice, if everything is going to be controlled in one form or the other by
executive. Its going to be really sad.

Below are the edited excerpts of the conversation:

Pallavi Saluja: Why did you take up this matter? Do you see any truth in the allegations that
have been made in the suicide note?

Dushyant Dave: It is not part of my job to decide whether the contents of the suicide note
are truthful or not. That is a matter to be investigated by a fiercely independent and
absolutely credible institution. Unless that is done, we will never really know.

Secondly, there is no doubt about the fact that a suicide note is equivalent to a dying
declaration under Section 32 of the Evidence Act. There is a long line of judgments
delivered by the Supreme Court, where they have categorically held that a suicide note can
be relied on to prove various offences.

So having said that, the reason why I accepted the brief was because I was appalled by fact
that the judges, particularly the Chief Justice of India, were attempting to give a judicial
burial to this whole issue and that is what really shook me beyond imagination. Like in the
Sahara-Birla judgement, the attempt here was to somehow put the controversy beyond
investigation by anybody else in the country.

That was clearly unacceptable to me and therefore, as a lawyer, and as somebody who
loves Constitution, the institution of the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, I felt that it
was necessary for someone to stand up.

PS: What do you make of the timing of the suicide notes release?
DD: I am not really bothered about the timing of the suicide note. The fact of the matter is
that there exists a suicide note; the question is somebody has to take up the matter.
Apparently, there is a story going around that Governor Rajkhowa had suggested a CBI
inquiry into the suicide note.

Yes, there may have been some delay, but ultimately it is in the interest of the institution that
the investigation is made by a fiercely independent institution as early as possible and the
truth is brought out. Twice during my arguments, I mentioned before the Court that I am not
on the contents of the suicide note, and that I pray that after such investigations the
allegations are proved to be wrong, but my argument was that you cannot determine that
without having an independent inquiry.

It is too serious a matter; the charges are very, very serious and they really go to the very
foundation of the institution (of the Supreme Court), which has now been shaken because of
this.
Chief Justice Khehar
PS: In both Sahara-Birla and Puls matter questions have been raised regarding the
constitution of the bench(es), which heard the matters respectively. Do you see a
connection?

DD: There is no doubt about the fact that the Chief Justice Khehar constituted the bench
presided by Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Amitava Roy to which the Sahara-Birla matter
was assigned, after dismantling two other benches presided by two judges senior to Justice
Mishra Justice Ramana and Justice RK Agrawal.

This was completely unacceptable, because when senior judges are available, you never
allow a junior judge to preside, unless the senior judges are sitting in a Constitution Bench
or something. This rule was overlooked in the Sahara-Birla matter. Curiously, the two
learned senior judges, Justice Ramana and Justice Agrawal, have started to preside again
after two or three weeks gap. So what was the point of taking away the presiding
assignment from them?

In Mrs. Puls matter, when the request was made in the letter to simply pass an
administrative order, with a clear request that the matter be placed before an appropriate
judge, Chief Justice Khehar should never have touched the matter.

He should have simply directed that letter to Justice Chelameswar, who is the number three
in seniority, as there were allegations against the Chief Justice and Justice Dipak Misra in
the suicide note, or maybe he should have constituted a 5 or 7 judge bench considering the
seriousness of the matter, as he did in Justice Karnans case.

So sending the matter to Court 13 knowing that he (the CJI) and Justice Goel have been
colleagues in Punjab & Haryana High Court and that it would send wrong signals, he still did
it.

Regrettably one gets an impression that on the one hand state government and central
government were not taking any action on the suicide note and on the other hand Supreme
Court was deciding the Sahara-Birla matter giving clean chit to alleged recipients from
across political spectrum. This is a very complex but curious co-incidence. The existence of
the suicide note and its seriousness were within the knowledge of the concerned persons.
Justice Arun Mishra
PS: But what is wrong in Justice Arun Mishra being allocated the Sahara-Birla case?

DD: I will tell you why I am a little troubled. Justice Khehar was present on December 18 at
a function at Justice Arun Mishras place where I was also present. Justice Khehar saw that
a large number of politicians and ministers from the ruling party, as also the Congress party
and others were present. Once you see that the judge has amongst his friends these top
politicians, he (the CJI) had to be circumspect and not assign the Sahara-Birla case to a
bench presided by that judge.
That was the least expected of him, and he did not do it. On the contrary, he changed
benches and reconstituted the Bench to allow Justice Mishra to preside and sent the matter
there. (Earlier I had written an article about Justice Mishras friendship with the Chief
Minister of Madhya Pradesh, one of the recipients of alleged payments in Sahara Diary and
his attending Justice Mishras nephews wedding in Gwalior, away from Bhopal on
December 10th, while the matter was actually being heard by him and Justice Khehar.)

There is no doubt about the fact that the Sahara-Birla case was an extremely explosive
case. It was so serious that it demanded a 5-judge bench of the senior-most judges of the
Supreme Court to hear it.

However, as is evident from the judgment in that case, the approach of the judges shows
that they have neither appreciated the seriousness of the matter nor have they really
understood the legal position; they have completely forgotten their constitutional obligation.

They have been completely overawed by the fact that the persons against whom allegations
have been made, particularly the Prime Minister, are constitutional functionaries. Nobody is
above the Constitution. And if the allegations are true, then everybody has to face the
music. But the truth of those allegations have to be ascertained by an extremely
independent investigation.

My own feeling is that the manner in which the matter was handled and the judgement itself
was perhaps to protect the Chief Justice himself, so that no constitutional functionary is
proceeded against without cogent material. That is really something which is bothering me
deeply.

PS: What was the logic of converting the letter into a writ petition and AK Goel and Justice
UU Lalit?
DD: The Supreme Court has laid down one principle of administrative law, which must
equally apply to judges that no man can be a judge in his own cause.

Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that Chief Justice Khehar committed a gross judicial
impropriety by dealing with that letter; and by directing that letter to be converted into a writ
petition; and then listing it before a particular bench.

By dealing with it in the manner he did,
allegations contained in the suicide note
Justice
PS: We understand that during the
Justice Goels recusal?
I think he has raised more doubts about the
rather than actually giving answers to them.
AK Goel
argument in court, you kept asking for

DD: I dont know what Justice Goel wanted to do. I was very clear in my mind that I did not
want the judges to deal with the matter because Mrs. Pul had not sought a judicial relief. So,
the Chief Justice had no authority to convert that into a petition on the judicial side without
her consent.

In this case, I genuinely felt that the Bench was not likely to give justice fairly because of the
connection between Justice Goel and the CJI. I am entitled to request him to recuse and I
am really shocked that despite repeated requests, Justice Goel refused.

PS: Do you think the independence [of the judiciary] is being compromised?

DD: Well, I am not sure what has happened. But, there is no doubt that something seems to
have happened to try and ensure that a quiet burial is given to two of the most sensitive
matters in our public life raises very serious questions, which I dont think can be answered
for a long long time.

PS: There are also rumours that Mrs Pul has some political ambitions.

DD: Even if she has some political ambitions, there is nothing wrong about it. The fact of the
matter is that a former Chief Minister of a state has committed suicide and has left a suicide
note that raises very serious allegations against very powerful people. Nobody is saying that
the suicide note is correct. But the nation expects that some action must take place. So, an
independent SIT, which is monitored by 5 of the senior most judges of the Supreme Court,
has to be constituted. Only then can something happen.

PS: And do you see that happening?

DD: I dont see anything happening in this country, everything can be easily put under
carpet. We are not a democracy in the real sense. We are increasingly becoming a banana
republic. I am sorry to tell you that not many Seniors are willing to stand up and condemn.
Top Seniors, who would otherwise love to issue statements on anything and everything,
should have got together and issued a statement condemning Chief Justice Khehars
conduct in this case. Why is it not happening? I heard rumors that some Seniors are
advising the Chief Justice. If that is true, then those lawyers must stop appearing in this
court.
Uttarakhand chief justice not elevated under govt pressure: Demand to make
public dissenting note

Well-known legal rights organization, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms
(CJAR), has said that Justice KM Josephs non-elevation to Supreme Court judge is linked
with his bold decision striking down the imposition of Presidents rule by the Centre in
Uttrakhand last year.
Alleging that the decision not to elevate the Uttarakhand chief justice has been influenced
by pressure from the government, CJAR has demanded that the full text of Justice J
Chelameswars dissenting note to the collegium objecting to the non-elevation of Justice
Joseph be put in public domain.

One of the most influential legal rights organization of India, those associated with CJAR
include top Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, former former judges PB Sawant
and H Suresh, well-known Magsaysay winning writer Aruna Roy, senior right to information
activist Nikhil Dey, other senior activists, experts and lawyers.

Says a CJAR, As a member of the Supreme Court collegium, while Justice Chelameswar
has not disagreed with the names of the five other judges that have been proposed for
elevation to the Supreme Court, his criticism that Justice Joseph has been sidelined, is right
and justified.
This is the first time in the annals of the Supreme Court collegium that a member has written
a dissent note. Normally such views are conveyed orally.

We regard Justice Jospeh to have had an outstanding record as an independent judge of

high integrity and holding secular views. His being sidelined is surprising since his name for
elevation to the Supreme Court, was even recommended by the previous collegium headed
by Justice TS Thakur, CJAR insists.
Pointing out that transparency in the working of public functionaries, both the judiciary and
the government, is critical in a democracy, CJAR says, It is ironic that there has been
complete opacity from both these institutions about disclosing a draft of the memorandum
of procedure for appointments to the High Court and Supreme Court.
The process has been shrouded in secrecy, excluding public participation in this crucial
process, CJAR says, adding, There have only been leaked media reports and
speculations on certain contentious clauses in the memorandum that have been going back
and forth between the government and the judiciary.

Contending that repeated requests from CJAR for a draft of the memorandum to be
shared have received no response, CJAR asks the Supreme Court chief justice JS
Khehar to make public the memorandum, which is being how finalised by the judiciary.

Five Questions We Have to Ask Before the Birla-Sahara Payoff Case is Buried
Forever BY PRASHANT BHUSHAN

The time has come for the judges of the Supreme Court to sit together to apply their minds
and devise a way for these serious documents to be thoroughly investigated.

Corruption continues to remain one of the most serious problems of our society. Narendra
Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2014 Lok Sabha election riding on the back of
the anti-corruption campaign and promising a government which would swiftly deal with
corruption and the problem of black money. The reality however, seems far from what was
promised.

In October 2013, the income tax (IT) department and the Central Bureau of Investigation
conducted simultaneous raids at various establishments of the Aditya Birla group of
companies. In these raids, cash worth Rs 25 crore was recovered from their corporate office
in Delhi along with a large number of documents, note-sheets, informal account books,
emails, computer hard disks and the like. The CBI quickly handed all the papers over to the
IT department, which did an investigation in this matter. The department questioned the
DGM accounts, Anand Saxena, who was the custodian of the cash which was recovered.
He said that the cash was received by the company from various hawala dealers, who used
to come almost daily or sometimes on alternate days and give Rs 50 lakhs or 1 crore in
cash. The IT department also questioned one such hawala dealer whom Anand Saxena had
mentioned, and this dealer also admitted that he had been doing that.

Saxena also said that this cash would thereafter be delivered to certain persons, specified
by the group president, Shubhendu Amitabh. And apart from himself, four other senior
officer whom he named were deputed to deliver the cash. Saxena further said that he
did not know the purpose behind the cash payments to those persons.

From Gujarat CM to Gujarat Alkalis and Chemicals

Some of the documents noting the cash received and payments made were in the
handwriting of Anand Saxena, which indicated Rs 7.5 crores paid to the ministry of
environment, with the noting of (Project J) scribbled next to the entry. The documents also
showed various other payments for environmental clearances of Birla projects. The dates of
these payments could easily be correlated with the environmental clearances obtained for
these projects.

The emails recovered from the computer of Shubhendu Amitabh revealed a number of
messages which indicated payments to various DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence)
officials for the purpose of slowing down/dropping investigations, which the agency was
conducting against the under-invoicing of coal exports and other irregularities by the Birla
group of companies.

Amitabhs emails also contained one cryptic entry which said Gujarat CM 25 crores (12
paid rest ?). When he was questioned about this entry, he said that Gujarat CM meant
Gujarat Alkalis and Chemicals. When asked as to whether there was any other place
where he had referred to Gujarat Alkalis and Chemicals as Gujarat CM, Amitabh could not
answer. He also could not produce any document which could indicate any dealing
between Gujarat Alkalis and Chemicals and the Birla group for Rs 25 crores.

The IT department then prepared a detailed appraisal report in which it concluded that the
explanations given by Shubhendu Amitabh about the various payments etc. were not
believable and that this matter needs to be further investigated. Unfortunately however, the
department did not send the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation for investigation
under the Prevention of Corruption Act even though the payments to DRI officials, the
environment ministry and Gujarat CM etc prima facie, all appeared to have been made to
public servants, which constitute offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI
would have been the designated investigating agency for this investigation.

It is not surprising that the UPA government of Manmohan Singh which was in power
when the Birla raid and recoveries took place did not have this matter pursued, because
most of the payments mentioned in the diaries were for officials of the UPA government.
However, even after coming to power, the Modi government, which obviously was in the
know of this IT department investigation, did not pursue the matter. Modi in his election
rallies at several times mentioned the Jayanti tax, which had to be paid by companies for
environmental clearances to then environment minister, Jayanti Natarajan. And any
investigation of the recovered papers from Birla would have substantiated that. The reason
for Modis reluctance to probe the Birla papers can only be attributed to that one entry of
Gujarat CM for 25 crores which any reasonable person would assume referred to him, for
he was the Gujarat CM at the time the Birla people made their noting.

The Sahara smoking gun

In November 2014, while the Modi government was in office, the IT department raided the
Sahara group of companies. In this raid, Rs 137 crore in cash was recovered from the
corporate office, along with several computer spreadsheets and note sheets. These
recovered documents also showed payments made to public servants. One particular
spreadsheet mentioned in detail the dates, amounts and sources from which a total of Rs
115 crore in cash was received during the year 2013 to 2014, with the transactions being on
40 to 50 different days. On the other side was the disbursement of this cash (Rs 113 crore
out of this 115 crore, to be precise) to various people. The disbursement details were
consummate and exhaustive as they contained the dates, the amounts, the person who was
paid the cash, the place where it was paid as well as the person who went and delivered the
cash. In this spreadsheet, the largest recipient with nine entries against his name was
Gujarat CM Modi Ji. As per the entries, he was paid a total of Rs 40 crore in nine
instalments. The second biggest recipient was the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan, with Rs 10 crore on two dates. There are also payments of Rs 4 crore to
the Chhattisgarh chief minister and a payment of Rs 1 crore to the Delhi chief minister (who
was Sheila Dixit at that time), among other people. Other recovered note sheets contain
details of payments made in 2010 to various persons.

Each of these documents was seized and signed by the IT officials, two witnesses and an
officer of Sahara. However, again, despite the highly incriminating nature of these
documents, the IT department, shockingly, did not hand these over for investigation to the
CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The IT department appraisal report on this is still not available, but we get a hint on what it
concluded on the matter from the order of the Income Tax Settlement Commission, which
came thereafter. The Sahara company had moved the Settlement Commission for settling
the case with the IT department under Section 245C of the Income Tax Act. One of the
issues before the Settlement Commission was whether or not the payments mentioned in
the spreadsheets should be added to the income of Sahara as undisclosed income. The IT
department in its statement said that these payments were clearly genuine since (a) these
were accounts maintained over a period of time, (b) that the cash received shown in the
spreadsheets matched with the ledger entries of MarCom the Marketing Communication
Company of Sahara. This meant that the dates on which cash was withdrawn from MarCom
matched the dates and amounts on which the cash is seemed to be received on these
spreadsheets from MarCom. And (c) that the explanations given by Sahara which sought
to question the validity of these documents were contradictory and did not appear to be
correct.

It was clear, therefore, that Sahara had not come with clean hands and yet the Settlement
Commission absolved Sahara of all criminal liabilities under the Income Tax Act by asking
the company to pay tax of a thousand odd crore rupees on their concealed income.
Even more interestingly, this case was decided by the Settlement Commission in record
time in virtually three hearings in less than three months, with the ruling coming on
November 10, 2016. It was also settled by just two members of the commission since the
third member had been transferred out by the government.

Enter Chowdary the CVC

For a long time, these documents remained buried within the Income Tax department and
eventually surfaced sometime towards the end of 2016, which was when I received copies.
They showed prima facie offences under the Prevention Of Corruption Act, which needed a
thorough investigation in accordance with the Supreme Court judgement of the Jain hawala
case, where the recovery of cryptic entries in a diary which only mentioned initials and
amounts paid was held by the Supreme Court to be enough to merit a thorough court-
monitored investigation. It is another matter that despite this ruling, the CBI in its
investigation into the Jain diaries did not examine the assets of the public servants involved
and filed the chargesheet only on the basis of the diaries recovered and thereafter this
chargesheet was quashed by the Delhi high court on the grounds that diaries by
themselves cannot be enough evidence for prosecuting anybody.

When I received the Birla-Sahara documents, I also noticed that the person in charge of the
income tax investigations was K. V. Chowdary, who, at the relevant period was holding the
charge of member, investigations, in the IT department. In June 2015, he was appointed by
the Modi government as the countrys Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). This
appointment was challenged by Common Cause in the Supreme Court on various grounds
of scuttling tax investigations and also being involved in the Stock Guru scam, in which
IT officials working under him were found to have taken crores in bribes from Stock Guru
company in return for favours from the IT investigation department.

As counsel for Common Cause, we then decided to raise the Birla-Sahara papers issue in
the pending case challenging the appointment of Chowdary itself, since the IT departments
decision to withhold these documents and not send them to the CBI for criminal
investigation constituted a serious dereliction of duty on Chowdarys part.
Knocking on the Supreme Courts door

This application was heard in the Supreme Court on November 26, 2016 by a bench of
Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice Arun Mishra.

In the hearing Justice Khehar said that these documents do not constitute any evidence for
investigation and asked us to come back with better evidence. Just before the next date of
hearing, I received the three volume Income Tax appraisal report from the Birla case and on
that date I pleaded with the court that I should be given more time to analyse the appraisal
report and file additional evidence. The court was reluctant to grant additional time and put
up the matter to be heard only two days thereafter. By this time, however, the appointment
of a new chief justice was coming close. Justice Khehar was the next in line of seniority but
the clearance of his name had still not been given by the government despite his name
having been recommended by the outgoing chief justice. I told the court in the hearing that
it would not be appropriate for it to push through with the hearing of this matter at a time
when Justice Khehars appointment file is pending with the prime minister, since this case
also involved investigations into the payments made to the prime minister as well. After
showing some resentment and anger, the court reluctantly adjourned the matter to January
11, 2017.

Justice Khehar was sworn in as chief justice on January 4, 2017. On January 11, two senior
judges who would normally have headed benches in the Supreme Court were made to sit
with even more senior judges and a new bench was created headed by Justice Arun Mishra
(who would not otherwise be heading a bench), with Justice Amitava Roy as the puisne
judge. The Birla-Sahara matter was sent to this bench. The judges heard the matter at
some length, and finally passed an order saying that since these were not regular books of
accounts, therefore, in accordance with the Supreme Court judgement in the Jain hawala
case, these did not constitute evidence on the basis of which any investigation could be
ordered. In particular, they said that high constitutional functionaries cannot be subject to
investigation on the basis of such loose papers. They also used the order of the Settlement
Commission to say that the Settlement Commission did not find any proof of these
documents being genuine and hence they did not represent the true state of affairs.

A little later, we discovered that while this case was being heard by Justice Arun Mishra
along with Justice Khehar, Justice Misra had celebrated the wedding of his nephew from his
official residence in Delhi as well as his residence in Gwalior. We were informed of this by
Dushyant Dave, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, who had also
attended the wedding reception. He stated that a large number of BJP leaders were present
at the event. A photograph of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh,
attending the reception at Gwalior also appeared in a newspaper. This is significant
because Chouhan was one of the alleged recipients of money in the Sahara spreadsheets
the very matter Justice Mishra was considering in court.

The Supreme Court has laid down a code of conduct which says that judges should
maintain a degree of aloofness, consistent with their status which means that they should
obviously not socialise with politicians whose cases are likely to come up for hearing before
them. It also says that judges should not hear and decide cases involving their friends and
relatives. Putting these two together, it is obvious that if a judge invites politicians for
personal functions at his residence, it can be safely assumed that these politicians are his
personal friends and that the judge must not hear and decide cases involving them.

Kalikho Puls suicide note, the missing link

Shortly after the dismissal of our application, The Wire on February 8, 2017, made public
the 60-page suicide note of the late Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul. Kalikho
Pul committed suicide on August 9, 2016, barely three weeks after he was unseated by a
judgment of a constitution bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Khehar and
Justice Dipak Misra. In his suicide note, which was found with his hanging body, and signed
and initialled on every page, Pul details the alleged corruption of various politicians as well
of persons closely related to senior members of the judiciary. In particular, the note shows
that he is especially anguished at the corruption of the judiciary. He says that prior to the
Supreme Courts judgment in the case, which quashed presidents rule in Arunachal
Pradesh and removed him from office, a demand of Rs 49 crore was made for a favourable
judgement by Justice Khehars younger son Virendra Khehar. He also mentioned that
another demand of Rs 37 crores was made by Aditya Mishra, described as the brother of
Justice Dipak Misra, for a favourable judgement.

This suicide note contained a number of very serious allegations of corruption which
obviously needed investigation, for which Puls eldest wife, Dangwimsai Pul, had been
making requests to the government. However, the note remained uninvestigated and its
copies were kept tightly under wraps and not made available to anybody.

The then governor of Arunachal Pradesh, J.P. Rajkhowa, himself went on record to say that
he had recommended a CBI investigation into the very disturbing charges made in
Puls suicide note. However, it still remained uninvestigated. And it was only in early
February that a copy of this suicide note was obtained and published by The Wire, which
published this note in the original Hindi and in an English translation, after redacting the
name of the judges mentioned in the note. The unredacted note was thereafter published by
the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) in the interest of transparency
and to prevent the spread of rumours about the identities of the redacted names.

The questions that remain

The manner in which the Supreme Court buried the Birla-Sahara diaries investigation and
the manner in which the government suppressed the suicide note of Kalikho Pul and did not
order any criminal investigation into the matter, raise several disturbing questions:

1. Was Chief Justice J.S. Khehar aware of the Kalikho Pul suicide note and that this note
mentioned his name, thus raising allegations about a cash for judgment scam?

2. Was Puls suicide note the reason that Chief Justice Khehar transferred the case
deliberately to a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra?

3. Was Justice Khehar aware of Justice Arun Mishras close ties with the BJP leaders?

4. Did the proximity of Justice Arun Mishra to the BJP and in particular to some of the
people specifically mentioned in the Birla-Sahara diaries as a recipient of black money
(such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, have a bearing
on the decision to finally not order an investigation?

5. Was the Kalikho Pul suicide note used as an instrument by the government to put
pressure on the judges hearing the Birla-Sahara case?

6. Did the Modi government decide to ignore Kalikho Puls suicide note (despite the fact
that it contains serious charges of corruption against Congress leaders and the two senior
most judges of the Supreme Court) so long as the judiciary does not order an investigation
into the Birla-Sahara payoffs ?

It is a fundamental principle in law that even a reasonable apprehension of bias in the minds
of the litigants constitutes a violation of natural justice and renders the judgment a nullity.
The content of the documents recovered in the Birla-Sahara raids as well the contents of
the Kalikho Pul suicide note are amongst the most lethal revelations of political corruption in
the country and they raise questions about the highest constitutional positions in our country
the prime minister and the chief justice of India. In hardly any case does one obtain
documentation which mentions in such detail, the payments made of large sums of money
to political personalities and officials. The Kalikho Pul suicide note, in particular, is like a
dying declaration and that too of a chief minister, which must be treated very seriously in law
because of the jurisprudential maxim nemo mariturus presumuntur mentri i.e. a man will
not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth.

The people of India have known for a long time the pervasive and rampant corruption in
the polity. Narendra Modi claimed to be above all this, but the Birla and Sahara documents
suggest otherwise. The Kalikho Pul suicide note has shaken the faith of the people in the
integrity of the highest levels of our judiciary. Burying the Birla-Sahara documents and the
Kalikho Pul suicide note without investigation will not make the public suspicion go away. In
fact, it would only strengthen those suspicions and irredeemably erode the fate of the
people in the integrity of Modi and the judiciary. It is imperative, therefore, that the contents
of these documents are subjected to thorough and credible investigation. In fact, they pose
one of the most serious challenges in independent India for the judiciary itself.
The time has come for the judges of the Supreme Court to sit together to apply their minds
and devise a way for these serious documents to be thoroughly investigated. Nothing less
than this is going to the restore the shaken faith of the people of this country in the highest
political and judicial offices of this country.

Supreme Court averse to Transparency

By M.J.Nedumpara

While the government often comes under fire for not effectively implementing the RTI Act,
few have noticed that Indias highest court violates the Act routinely, and with an impunity
that makes the governments evasion of the RTI Act seem benign.

Consider the following:

On 20th February 2008, Satnam Singh, a prisoner in Ludhianas Central Jail sent a
Right to Information (RTI) request to the Supreme Court (SC) asking for a copy of its
guidelines on police reforms. The Public Information Officer (PIO) of the SC denied the
request and referred Singh to the SC website. Singh filed a first appeal pointing out that as
a prisoner, he had no access to a computer, and that, by not sending him the information,
the SC was denying him his right. Hearing the appeal, the Registrar, SC too denied the
request, now asking him to apply under the Supreme Court Rules 1966, instead of the RTI
Act.

On 10th November 2007, Subhash Chandra Agrawal filed an RTI request with the SC
asking for information concerning declaration of assets by Supreme Court Judges, among
other things. The PIO denied the request, claiming he did not hold the information. Agrawal
filed a first appeal asking that his application may be transferred to the Public Authority
holding the information. The Registrar asked the PIO to re-consider the request, but he
denied the information again. Agrawal moved the Central Information Commission (CIC)
which in January 2009, asked the PIO to furnish the information [PDF].The SC challenged
this order twice before the Delhi High Court (HC) even as it made some information about
judges assets public on its website, but the HC upheld the CICs ruling.

In 2007, N. Anbarasan filed an RTI request before the Karnataka High Court (HC) for
information pertaining to the scrutiny and classification of writ petitions, among other things.
The PIO denied the information and asked Anbarasan to apply under the Karnataka HC Act
and Rules. Anbarasan approached the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), which
ruled in his favor. The PIO challenged the KICs order before the HC, which quashed it.
Subsequently, AKM Nayak, the State Chief Information Commissioner, and a former
Additional Chief Secretary, appealed against the HC ruling before the SC. The SC not only
dismissed the appeal but fined Nayak 1 lakh rupees for wasting public money for satisfying
their ego. [PDF]

Although the SC frequently agonises over governments lack of transparency, its own
Registry has steadfastly resisted yielding information under the Act. In the past decade of
the Acts existence, the SC has fought many RTI applicants tooth and nail, forcing them to
the stage of second appeal. Where the CIC has ruled in favor of the applicants, the SC has
typically challenged its decisions before the Delhi HC.

The SC has fought these battles not for some significant intrusion of transparency, but for
routine matters such as providing pendency figures: for example, the applicant who sought
this information in 2009 had to wait until 2014 just to get the Delhi High Court to rule that
the [PDF] SC may provide the information.

I was unaware of the SCs hostility towards the RTI Act, until two years ago, when I called
the office of the Assistant Registrar & PIO to confirm the address where I should send an
RTI request. For my research, I wanted a copy of the affidavits filed in a public interest
litigation (PIL) heard by the SC between 1999 and 2004.

The official who answered my call wouldnt identify himself, and asked me if I was party to
the case. When I answered no, he said, We do not provide copies of the judicial record to
non-parties, and hung up. In all my experience of seeking information under the RTI Act,
never before had an officer declined to provide information so transparently. I called back to
ask how might one access judicial records. The official asked me to look up SC Rules 1966.

RTI Act vs Supreme Court Rules

As I found out after reading about several RTI cases involving the SC, referring applicants
to its own rules is a significant tool deployed by the SC to keep the RTI Act at bay. Order XII,
Rule 2 of the SC Rules 1966 [PDF] says:

The Court, on the application of a person who is not a party to the case, appeal or matter,
may on good cause shown, allow such person search, inspect or get copies of all pleadings
and other documents or records in the case, on payment of the prescribed fees and
charges.

In several ways, this rule gives the SC greater powers to withhold information from citizens,
vis--vis the RTI Act. Unlike the RTI act:
 The rule insists on the applicant providing a reason, and makes the availability of
information contingent upon good cause shown.

It prescribes no time limit within which information is to be provided.

It lists no penalties for delaying or failing to provide the information.

It has no mechanisms for appeal.

These inconsistencies have to be resolved in favour of the RTI Act as per the non-obstante
clause provided in Section 22 of the RTI Act. Yet, I found that the SC has been maintaining
that it can deny RTI requests, and limit citizens to the SC Rules.

The SC, represented by its Assistant Registrar and Registrar has been relying on two ruses.
First, as per the SC Rules, it was the Court [PDF] which could take a decision on admitting
requests to access judicial records and the humble Registrar and the humbler Assistant
Registrar could scarcely usurp the authority of the Court. Second was the ruse that the
RTI Act, under Section 6(3), allowed Public Authorities to frame rules to access information
and the SCR were Supreme Courts Rules to address RTI. By this logic, the Supreme Court
had framed rules in 1966 itself anticipating the RTI Act, which came after 40 years.

The Role of the CIC

The dispute over RTI and SC Rules came before the CIC as early as 2006 a year after the
passage of the Act in the case of Manish Khanna vs. The Supreme Court of India . [PDF]
The appeal was heard by former bureaucrat and then Chief Information Commissioner,
Wajahat Habibullah. Ignoring the four fundamental inconsistencies listed above, Habibullah
startlingly ruled that there was no inherent inconsistency between the Act and Order XII
Rule 2. In his view, Rule 2 merely provided an alternative procedure to access the
information without denying it in any way ignoring the on good cause shown condition.

With this as the foundation, he ruled that the Rule 2 was a special enactment, not
superseded by a general law enacted later. This ruling established the precedent by which
the CIC has consistently ruled in favour of the SC Rules 1966 against the RTI Act.

By my rough calculation, the SCs refusal to provide information about judicial records under
the RTI Act has come before the CIC nearly 50 times in the last ten years this is just
counting the cases which have been decided by the CIC; many more await a hearing.
Keeping in mind that not every applicant has the time, resources and the skills to draft first
and second appeals, one can say that a very large number of RTI requests are being
summarily denied by the SC each year conservatively speaking about 20 annually. Thus,
on the back of this ruling, the SC Registry has found a third ruse to deny information: citing
the precedent set by Habibullahs ruling.

The only exception to this has been a decision in 2011 by Information Commissioner
Shailesh Gandhi, who observed that Order XII curtailed the fundamental right of citizens to
free information because of the aforementioned inconsistencies. He ruled [PDF] that the
PIO must provide information subject to the provisions of the RTI Act, and that it was up to
applicants to decide whether they wished to seek information under the RTI Act or the SC
Rules.

The SC instantly moved the Delhi HC against this ruling, where Justice S. Muralidhar
immediately stayed the matter and, further, restrained the CIC from hearing matters on
similar questions. The case remains pending before the HC. Perhaps to do away with the
criticism that rules framed in 1966 could scarcely be said to address a landmark law
enacted in 2005, the Supreme Court revised its rules in 2013. Under SC Rules 2013, issued
in August 2014, Order XII Rule 2 has become Order XIII Rule 2 with no meaningful
difference for the information-seeker.

Seeking information

Despite the nameless SC officer telling me outright that they will not provide me with copies
of the affidavits I was seeking, I decided in January 2014 to file my RTI request anyway. For
good measure, I requested the same information under Order XII, Rule 2 as well. It would
be one thing if the SC was providing information to citizens under its own rules, but even
that is not the case, as I found out, and as others have experienced too [PDF].

The PIO denied my RTI request and asked me to approach the Court under Order XII Rule
2, which I had already done. This second request got no reply for over a month, at which
point I followed up with the SC over the phone. After several evasive conversations, an
officer finally informed me, again, that they would not release the information to me. When I
asked the officer for her name so that I may state this position in my first appeal, she
declined and hung up.

I eventually received a reply to my request under Order XII, Rule 2. The Assistant Registrar
(Copying) now insisted that I apply under Order XII, Rule 2 read with Order X Rule 6(1),
i.e., I present my application for information in person at the filing counter of the Court. This
additional hurdle was entirely new, as the SC had not mentioned it before the CIC.
Moreover, it is entirely inconsistent with the RTI Act because it limits the availability of
information only to those who can make their way to the filing counter of the SC not the
easiest of tasks for most citizens, particularly the vast majority of Indians who do not live in
Delhi.
I filed a first appeal before the Registrar, pointing out that SC had refused information
through both the routes, and invented new hurdles to access information. The Registrar
found my appeal to be without any merit and dismissed it. I filed a second appeal before
the CIC in July 2014, which is yet to be scheduled for hearing.

In my experience of filing RTI requests with multiple public authorities, no government body
comes close to the SC in terms of contempt towards RTI applications. This attitude seems
to be pervasive in the higher judiciary. The summary denials, fighting ordinary applicants
before the CIC, and even hauling them before the Delhi HC suggests that as far as Indias
higher judiciary is concerned, transparency is good for others, not for itself.

Probe CJI for Kalikho Pul's suicide, his widow petitions Vice-President Ansari

TNN | Updated: Mar 1, 2017, 06.48 AM IST

Giving a new twist to former Arunachal chief minister Kalikho Pul's `suicide' note case, his
widow Dangwimsai Pul met Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday, seeking registration
of an FIR and investigation into allegations of corruption against Chief Justice of India
Justice J S Khehar and sitting Supreme Court judge Dipak Misra.

In her memorandum, Dangwimsai said since the matter involved the CJI and another sitting
SC judge, the allegations should be "seriously investigated by a credible investigation
team", a Special Investigation Team (SIT), and not a government-controlled body. She
argued that composition of the SIT should be left to 3-5 judges, next in seniority to CJI
Khehar and Justice Misra. The 60-page 'suicide note' of Pul, who committed suicide on
August 9 last year in his official residence in Itanagar, allegedly contained details of several
allegations of corruption against politicians and judges, as also against President Pranab
Mukherjee.

According to the purported diary, captioned "Mere Vichar", of the former Arunachal CM, Pul
blamed his suicide on corruption among Congress leaders of Arunachal and the judiciary
which unseated him. Saying that her husband was under depression after his removal as
CM and that 'Mere Vichar' was actually his suicide note, Dangwimsai told the vice-president:
"Given the gravity of the allegations contained in the note and the fact that many of them
are from his personal knowledge and that a suicide note is treated like a dying declaration,
this matter needs to be seriously investigated by a credible investigation team. However,
since it also involves the CJI and another sitting judge of the Supreme Court, to protect the
independence of the judiciary , it should not be investigated by an investigative body
controlled by the government."

Dangwimsai was accompanied by activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, his Swaraj Abhiyan

colleague Yogendra Yadav, bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mander and RTI campaigner
Anjali Bhardwaj. Her move to meet the vice-President followed her decision to withdraw
from the SC her petition seeking a CBI probe into the death.

Talking about the independence of the judiciary, Dangwimsai's memorandum said, "It was to
protect the independence of the judiciary that the SC in Veeraswami's case said that any
allegations against the sitting judges of the higher judiciary can only be investigated by an
investigating authority after obtaining the prior permission of the Chief Justice of India." It
further said, "The judgment says that in case there are allegations against the Chief Justice,
the President will consult other judges. This, in terms of the spirit of the judgment, would
mean the judgejudges next in seniority ."

The letter said, "Since in this case, the allegations are also against the sitting CJI and sitting
President, I am therefore addressing this request to you (Vice-President) to exercise the
authority which normally the President would have exercised in terms of the Veeraswami's
judgment."

Editorial : Jail CJI Khehar

- Few Judges deserve Contempt NOT Respect

Legally prosecute and send CJI Khehar to Jail. Covering up crimes is also a crime. He
and his predecessors are covering up crimes.
Justice Karnan was convicted for Contempt of Court , in a super fast manner. Why NOT
Supreme Court Judges who have committed anti national crimes , sex crimes , etc are not
punished in such a super fast manner since years ? Why Supreme Court Judges are NOT
punished for Contempt of Court , contempt of constitution of India , Contempt of Citizens
since years ? Are these people Judges or Dictators ?

CJI Khehar Murders Justice & Truth

https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/cji-khehar-murders-justice-truth

Few judges even after committing crimes are escaping from legal prosecution. They are
not allowing RTI replies , enquiry , investigation into their crimes , illegal actions. Therefore
they cannt be legally prosecuted and convicted in a court of law. As a result by farce they
are innocent , technically innocent till proven guilty.

We have highest respect for all constitutional offices including courts of law , office of
judge. However we have utter CONTEMPT towards few corrupt individuals occupying
those honourable offices. Respect towards a Judge comes involuntarily in a citizen ,
when he sees that judge performing his constitutional duties honestly , bringing glory to the
office. A corrupt judge himself is the first contemnor of his own office , who shows
disrespect to his office by working against law. By fear of contempt law , fear of
imprisonment a corrupt judge will not get respect , he will get a mechanical salutation from
citizens but inside citizens heart there will be utter contempt towards the corrupt judge.

Judges dont behave like dictators , you are accountable to people as you are surviving on
peoples money. Remember You are inferior to our motherland india and our constitution.

Judges Smother Truth about ex Arunachal CMs Suicide : Justice Karnan to

President

The Supreme Court of India refused to recall the arrest order against sitting Calcutta High
Court Judge Justice Karnan, who has been found guilty of contempt of court by a seven-
judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.

Justice Karnan, on May 12, had sought a review of his conviction and six-month jail
sentence.
"We wont allow you to stop court proceedings like this, you have been doing it repeatedly,"
CJI JS Khehar told Justice Karnans legal aide Mathews Nedumpara on Monday.

Justice Karnan became the first Indian judge to be convicted, after incidentally also being
the first judge to be summoned by a court. On May 9, Justice Karnan was sentenced to six
months imprisonment after he failed to appear before court in a contempt case against him.

We are punishing him for contempt of Indian judiciary as well as judicial process and his
act was of greatest nature of contempt, the seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice JS
Khehar had said.

SC gives 6 month jail term to Justice Karnan for contempt, orders media gag on his
statements

The West Bengal DGP was tasked with carrying out the arrest of Justice Karnan
immediately but Justice Karnan had evaded arrest until Monday morning and has
remained at large. Searches were carried out at his Kolkata residence and in parts of
Chennai and Tamil Nadu-Andhra border by several senior police officials from different
states. There were rumours doing the rounds that he had left the country or he would
appear before the SC himself.

Meanwhile, Justice Karnan on Monday wrote a letter addressed to President Pranab

Mukherjee, that was also addressed to Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, MPs and to leader of all political
parties.

Committed no offence

In his three-point letter, Justice Karnan alleges that his impeachment and imprisonment is
without authority of law and goes on to level allegations of corruption against the Chief
Justice of India JS Khehar. While arguing that he committed no offence, the HC judge goes
on to observe that the Supreme Court usurped the jurisdiction invested in the parliament
and his trial was held without charges being framed.

Justice Karnan alleges that the order by the seven-judge bench of the apex court was a
violation of the Constitution in addition to the usurpation of the jurisdiction of parliament.

As per Article 217 of the Indian Constitution, a judge can be removed by an order of the
President passed after both Houses of Parliament vote for their removal on grounds of
proven "misbehaviour" and "incapacity". And this vote must be by a two-thirds majority,
where at least 66% of the member who are present and voting must vote for their removal.
The President of India appointed me as a judge and the President alone could have
removed me and that too upon an impeachment motion which has received the rd
majority of the members of Parliament. But I am not only impeached, but even being sent to
the jail without any such impeachment motion against me, by a mere judicial order of a 7
judges bench, he writes.

Reiterating that he committed no offence, Justice Karnan says that all he did was to raise
the little voice from within against corruption in the higher judiciary. In January, he had
written a letter to PM Modi accused various judges and officers of the Madras High Court of
corruption in. He also added that if central agencies probe the matter, his charges could be
proved too..

Justice Karnan goes on to level more charges, alleging that in the suicide note left behind
by former Arunachal Pradesh CM Kalikho Pul, he accused CJI Khehar and SC judge Justice
Dipak Misra of venturing to sell justice for a huge sum running into crores through their
relatives. However, he claimed that no FIR has been registered and despite efforts to file a
writ petition in the Delhi High Court, no case has been listed.

He concludes his letter writing, I part with the unstinted faith that the two issuesmy
impeachment and imprisonment without authority of law and allegations of corruption
against incumbent Hon'ble Chief Justice of India will be looked into, which I believe is the
solemn duty of your excellencies.

Former SC judge approached me on behalf of CJI: Dave

The CJI had ordered the letter to be listed as a writ petition before a bench of Justices A K
Goel and U U Lalit.

At the high-wattage hearing on Thursday with the CJI at its centre, Dangwimsai's counsel
Dushyant Dave made the sensational claim that a former SC judge had approached him on
Khehar's behalf. He also questioned the decision to turn the letter into a writ petition to be
disposed of by the SC when his client had sought an administrative inquiry, as also the
choice of Justices Goel and Lalit to hear the petition

Dangwimsai's letter cited the SC's 1991 judgment in the Veeraswami case where the apex
court had ruled that SC and HC judges could be probed for corruption but only with the prior
permission of the CJI.

The Constitution bench ruling had also said, "If the Chief Justice of India himself is the
person against whom the allegations of criminal misconduct are received, the government
shall consult any other judge or judges of the Supreme Court."

Dangwimsai's letter had said, "I am sure you (the CJI) will have the matter placed before the
appropriate judge in accordance with the judgment in the Veeraswami case for
consideration of my request."

Dave raised a series of questions and levelled many allegations. "Why was Dangwimsai's
letter converted into a criminal writ petition? Why was it put up for hearing in open court for
a judicial decision when the CJI was expected to take a decision on the administrative side?
Is the CJI precluded from taking a decision on the letter as the allegations in the suicide
note concerned the CJI's son?" Dave asked.

"We had sought an administrative direction, why was it taken on the judicial side? We want
to know the reason behind it. There was a development on Monday evening. A former judge
of the Supreme Court met me on behalf of the CJI. I do not want to say more. I beg your
lordships to stay away from this case," Dave urged the bench of Justices Goel and Lalit.

Initially, Dave gave the impression that he was totally against the letter being put up for
hearing in open court. Later, he wanted to know if it was to be put up for hearing, then why
before a bench headed by a junior judge like Justice Goel, who is number 13 in seniority
among the 28 SC judges.

"This letter brings forth a more serious issue than the one raised by Calcutta HC's Justice C
S Karnan, which is being heard by a five-judge bench. So, why was a five-judge bench not
constituted for this case? Why has it been assigned to a junior judge and not to number
three (Justice J Chelameswar) or number four (Justice Ranjan Gogoi) or number five
(Justice Madan Lokur)?" Dave asked.

When the bench appeared determined to proceed with the hearing, Dave said, "You (Justice
Goel) were a colleague of the CJI in Punjab and Haryana HC. You should recuse yourself."
Finally, Dave said his client (Dangwimsai) wanted to withdraw the letter to explore other
avenues.
"We will now approach the vice-president for relief as the suicide note contains allegations
against the President also. If the Supreme Court decides on the letter after converting it into
a writ petition, then all other avenues for remedies will be closed," Dave said. The bench
permitted Dangwimsai to withdraw the letter and said the withdrawal would mean that the
cause of action initiated by the widow in writing to the CJI had ended.

Legal Notice to Honourable Chief Justice of India

To,

Honourable Chief Justice of India,

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA,

New Delhi.

Honourable Sir ,

Subject : Legal Notice to Chief Justice of India

Are Judges , Police PERFECT ? Satya Harishchandra ?

Hereby , I challenge Chief Justice of India in the exercise of my FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES

as a citizen of india , that subject to conditions I will legally prove the crimes of few judges
, police , public servants within the government service and other criminals. Is the CJI
ready to book those criminals , traitors , anti nationals ?

Since 25 years I am appealing to apex court for justice concerning various public issues , no
justice in sight but injustices meted out one after another. But the same judges are
SHAMELESSLY taking huge pay perks for years now are also poised to get almost
triple fold salary increase. Parasites feeding on Indian Public. Whenever questions of
accountability are asked judges level contempt charges against the questioner or police
fix him in fake cases or he is silenced by threats , murders , denial of jobs , etc. Since 25
years in many ways they are trying to silence me. Just take the recent example of Justice
Karnan who leveled corruption charges against specific judges with CJI. Instead of
conducting a fair investigation into the matter , CJI tried to silence him by serving him
contempt notice.

Our Judges , Police are NOT Perfect Not Satya Harischandras . There are criminals as
well as honest people side by side in judiciary & police. We whole heartedly respect
honest few in judiciary , police & public service. But we detest corrupt judges , corrupt
police. Honest Judges & Police are not coming into open to prosecute their corrupt
colleagues, why ? silenced ?

Criminalization of all wings of government has taken place , unfit people are in the
positions of power. Corruption in judiciary , police , CBI , CVC , Public service is rampant.
Now MAFIA is at work. Only few scandals , scams become public , many are buried. If one
criminal public servant is caught other public servant who is also a criminal conducts name
sake investigation , gives report , clean chit. Law courts rely on the government reports as
evidences , courts are not bothered about credibility of reports or investigations. It is quid
pro quo. Therefore technically criminal public servants are never proved for their crimes &
convicted , as investigation itself is not fair.

A Crime may happen without the knowledge of police but cannt continue for years without
the connivance of police. A Crime reported to court cannt continue for years without
connivance of judges.

At the bottom of the paper , I have given web sites about few ACB raids on government
officials and unearthing of crores worth property. How they have earned it , by misusing
their official positions. Therefore government reports , records prepared by these officials ,
investigations conducted by corrupt police are suspect. But Law courts in various cases ,
considers government reports , records , statements of government officials as sacrosanct .
Therefore in many cases injustice is meted out by court , as they depend on reports of
corrupt government officials , corrupt police.

The public servants & the government must be role models in law abiding acts , for others to
emulate & follow. if a student makes a mistake it is excusable & can be corrected by the
teacher. if the teacher himself makes a mistake , all his students will do the same mistake.
if a thief steals , he can be caught , legally punished & reformed . if a police himself
commits crime , many thieves go scot-free under his patronage. even if a police , public
servant commits a crime , he can be legally prosecuted & justice can be sought by the
aggrieved. just think , if a judge himself that too of apex court of the land himself commits
crime - violations of RTI Act , constitutional rights & human rights of public and obstructs
the public from performing their constitutional fundamental duties , what happens ?
"Power will go to the hands of rascals, , rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders
will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly
hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and will be lost in political
squabbles . A day would come when even air & water will be taxed." Sir Winston
made this statement in the House of Commons just before the independence of
India & Pakistan. Sadly , the forewarning of Late Winston Churchill has been
proved right by some of our criminal , corrupt peoples representatives , police ,
public servants & Judges.

I dont know whether secretariat staff of CJI office & DARPG / DPG officials are forwarding
my appeals for justice , e-mails to you or not. They will be held accountable for their lapses
if any. This notice is against the repeated failure of constitutional duties & indirect collusion
with criminals by previous CHIEF JUSTICEs OF INDIA. Notice is served against them , to
the office of CJI , NOT personally against you.

Please refer my appeal for justice through DARPG ;

DLGLA/E/2013/00292

DEPOJ/E/2013/00679

In india democracy is a farce , freedom a mirage. the most basic freedom RIGHT TO
INFORMATION & EXPRESSION , is not honoured by the government,as the information
opens up the crimes of V.V.I.Ps & leads to their ill-gotten wealth. The public servants are
least bothered about the lives of people or justice to them. these type of fat cats , parasites
are a drain on the public exchequer . these people want ,wish me to see dead , wish to see
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH closed . so that, a voice against injustices is silenced forever , the
crimes of V.V.I.Ps closed , buried forever.

To my numerous appeals , HRWs appeals to you ,you have not yet replied. It clearly shows
that you are least bothered about the lives of people or justice to them .it proves that you
are hell bent to protect the criminals at any cost. you are just pressurising the police to
enquire me ,to take my statement, to repeatedly call me to police station all with a view to
silence me.all of you enjoy legal immunity privileges ,why dont you have given powers to
the police / investigating officer to summon all of you for enquiry ?or else why dont all of
you are not appearing before the police voluntarily for enquiry ?at the least why dont all of
you are not sending your statement about the case to the police either through legal counsel
or through post? you are aiding criminals ,by denying me job oppurtunities in R.B.I
CURRENCY NOTE PRESS mysore , city civil court ,bangalore , distict court , mysore ,etc &
by illegally closing my newspaper. Even Press accreditation to me as a web journalist is
denied till date. there is a gross, total mismatch between your actions and your oath of
office. this amounts to public cheating & moral turpitude on your part.

1.you are making contempt of the very august office you hold.
2.you are making contempt of the constitution of india.
3.you are making contempt of citizens of india.
4.you are sponsoring & aiding terorrism & organized crime.
5.you are violating the fundamental & human rights of the citizens of india and of
neighbouring countries.
6.you are violating & making contempt of the U.N HUMAN RIGHTS CHARTER to which
india is a signatory.
7.you are obstructing me from performing my fundamental duties as a citizen of india.
8. As a result of your gross negligence of constitutional duties you have caused me
damages / losses to the tune of RUPEES TWO CRORE ONLY.

9. You are responsible for crime cover ups mentioned in my RTI Appeals , PILs and
continuation of those crimes unabated.

10. You are responsible for denial of information, which vindicates the crimes of powers
that be.

11. You are responsible for physical assaults , murder attempts on me.

12. You are responsible for job denials to me at NIE , PES Engineering college , RBI
Press , Mysore , Bangalore Courts.

13. You are responsible for my illegal retrenchment from RPG Cables , denial of medical
care to me towards occupational health problems.

14. You are responsible for denying me legal aid.

15. You are responsible for illegal closure of my news paper.

16. You are responsible for denial of press accreditation to me as a web journalist till date.

17. You are responsible for repeatedly passing on my appeals to police. So that they can
take statements , close the file under the threat of police power.

18. You have violated my Human Rights & Fundamental Rights.

19. In terms of Integrity , Honesty You & other public servants are nowhere near Baba
Saheb B R Ambedkar , Mahatma Gandhi & Satya Harishchandra . Many Public servants
are UNFIT to be in their posts.

You are hereby called upon to Pay damages to me and SHOW-CAUSE within 30
days , why you cannt be legally prosecuted for the above mentioned crimes . If
you dont answer it will be admission of the charges by you. It will amount to
confession of crimes on your own.

If i am repeatedly called to police station or else where for the sake of investigations , the
losses i do incurr as a result like loss of wages , transportation , job , etc must be borne by
the government. prevoiusly the police / IB personnel repeatedly called me the complainant
(sufferer of injustices) to police station for questioning , but never called the guilty culprits
even once to police station for questioning , as the culprits are high & mighty . this type of
one sided questioning must not be done by police or investigating agencies . if anything
untoward happens to me or to my family members like loss of job , meeting with hit & run
accidents , loss of lives , etc , the jurisdictional police together with above mentioned
accussed public servants , Chief Justice of India & Jurisdictional District Magistrate will be
responsible for it. Even if criminal nexus levels fake charges , police file fake cases against
me or my dependents to silence me , this complaint is & will be effective.

if anything untoward happens to me or my dependents , the government of india is liable to

pay Rs. TWO crore as compensation to survivors of my family. if my whole family is
eliminated by the criminal nexus ,then that compensation money must be donated to Indian
Army Welfare Fund. afterwards , the money must be recovered by GOI as land arrears from
the salary , pension , property , etc of guilty judges , police officials , public servants &
Constitutional fuctionaries.

Thanking you. Jai Hind , Vande Mataram.

Send reply to :

Nagaraja Mysuru Raghupathi

Editor , SOS e Voice for Justice & SOS e Clarion of Dalit,

LIG 2 , NO 761 , HUDCO First Stage,

Laxmikantanagar , Hebbal ,

Mysuru 570017.

Date : 05.03.2017 yours sincerely,

Place : Mysore , IndiaNagaraja Mysuru Raghupathi

Edited, printed , published owned by NAGARAJA.M.R. @ # LIG-

2 No 761,HUDCO FIRST STAGE ,

OPP
WATER WORKS , LAXMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL
,MYSURU 570017 KARNATAKA INDIA

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