The Court’s direction came while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mohan Lal Sharma seeking judicial inquiry into alleged “misbehaviour” (misconduct) by Justice Balakrishnan, now Chairman National Human Rights Commission, during his tenure as CJI. Justice Balakrishnan was appointed a judge in the Supreme Court on June 8, 2000. He took oath as CJI on January 14, 2007 and retired on May 12, last year.
The three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia asked Attorney General G E Vahanvati to file the government’s response detailing the status of the complaint made to the Vice-President by the journalist in next two weeks.“We want to know factually the status of the complaint,” Justice Kapadia asked. “There is a petition which said that a complaint was made to the Vice President making some allegations against NHRC Chairman in 2010. The Vice President forwarded it to the Home Ministry,” the Bench noted.
M Furquan, the Delhi-based journalist, had in his complaint to the President on May 4, 2010, sought his direction for a CBI inquiry into “accumulation of financial assets by Justice Balakrishnan’s entire family” since he took over as CJI. He had forwarded a copy each of his allegations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and to several other eminent persons.
The complainant also alleged that the declaration of assets made by Justice Balakrishnan and his wife on the Supreme Court website were “far below the actual assets” acquired by him and his family.