Was ex-CJI Balakrishnan a fixer? Ex-judge says he was approached

Special to Firstpost By VK Shashikumar, THL Mediagrove

Was former Chief Justice of India and current Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan, open to “fixing” cases for a consideration?

Two former judges, who knew him closely, suspect this may be the case and have called for a detailed probe into the affairs of the former CJI who has recently come under scrutiny for the wealth amassed by his close relatives, including his daughters and sons-in-law, when he was a judge in the Supreme Court from 2000-10.

One of his accusers is retired Kerala High Court Justice PK Shamsuddin (1986-93), and a Gandhian and humanitarian who served with the former CJI. Justice Shamsuddin says Balakrishnan must be probed for his dubious practices because he (Shamsuddin) was once approached by a Bangalore-based person to act as an intermediary to a fix case in the Supreme Court.

“I was approached by a man in Bangalore. He requested me to facilitate an introduction to Justice Balakrishnan’s son (KG Pradeep) or son-in-law (Puliyanaveettil Vasu Sreenijan) to fix a case in the Supreme Court. I refused and said that I don’t involve myself in such things.”

This shocking revelation by Justice Shamsuddin brings the spotlight back to the corruption allegations swirling around Balakrishnan.

“I am of the view that a detailed and comprehensive inquiry must be initiated against all the allegations against Justice Balakrishnan. I feel he should resign as the NHRC chief and establish that he is innocent. All judges have a moral obligation to ensure that relatives do not misuse their position and use their names in illegal and dubious matters,” Shamsuddin told Firstpost.

Another former retired senior judge, Justice K Sukumaran (1981-91), who served in the Kerala and Maharashtra High Courts, confirms that judges are often approached “by vested interests and attempts made to influence them".

Sukumaran says that Balakrishnan allowed his late brother KG Bhaskaran to exploit his name and position for personal gain. “I believe Justice Balakrishnan should have been vigilant to ensure that his name or position was not misused by his relatives.”

Sukumaran also feels that Balakrishnan was okay when he was a Kerala High Court judge, but things changed when he went to Delhi as a Supreme Court judge and, subsequently, when he became CJI.

The wealth amassed by the ex-CJI’s kin has been probed by the Kerala police and a CNN-IBN report says that his family “amassed crores between 2004 and 2009," when he was CJI. Firstpost’s own investigations show that the current value of properties purchased by his daughters and sons-in-law add up to over Rs 35 crore ( See details ).

Tracing the rise and rise of ex-CJI Balakrishnan from an “average lawyer” who appeared before his court to the highest judicial office in the land, Justice Sukumaran says it is an open secret that Balakrishnan’s career was propelled by former Kerala Chief Minister (late) K Karunakaran. The latter skillfully used the Dalit card to elevate Balakrishnan to the Kerala High Court.

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Justice Balakrishnan, who is holding on to the post of NHRC chief, allegedly to insulate himself from the chorus of allegations of corruption he is facing, was sent a detailed questionnaire by Firstpost on Monday. On Tuesday, he replied with a bland denial sent through the Information and Public Relations Officer of the NHRC, Jaimini Kumar Srivastava.

“Please refer to your email dated 13th June 2011, Subject “Questionnaire from Firstpost.”  I am instructed to inform that the allegations made in the email are absolutely incorrect and they are made and spread by people with vested interest.”

But it is not easy to dismiss allegations by judges and former colleagues as mere “vested interest”. One of them is former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, and another is former Supreme Court judge VK Krishna Iyer. They have been consistently demanding Justice Balakrishnan’s resignation and the setting up of a commission of inquiry to probe his conduct. They have said that the onus is on Justice Balakrishnan to come clean on the allegations that his relatives suddenly became rich during his term as Chief Justice in the apex court.

But it is not only the ex-CJI who has chosen to stay mum. There is complete silence from the government, too. A few months ago, the Director General of Income Tax  (Investigation), ET Lukose, told reporters in Kochi that his department had unearthed evidence of “black money” with three of Justice Balakrishnan’s relatives. Lukose refrained from identifying them by name and simply said, “It is known to you all.” But he added that most of this “money” was accumulated in the last five years, in three of which Balakrishnan was CJI. He retired in May 2010 as CJI and was made Chairman of NHRC in June 2010.

The Kerala government had also ordered a vigilance probe earlier this year, which came up with a list of properties acquired by Justice Balakrishan’s daughters and sons-in-law, PV Sreenijan and MJ Benny, and his brother (the late) KG Bhaskaran. All these properties were acquired between 2007 and 2010 when Justice Balakrishnan was the CJI  ( See list ).

The revelations of the tax department are in sharp contrast to the stonewalling of Right to Information Act (RTI) queries submitted to the department seeking details of Justice Balakrishnan’s tax returns from 2005-06 to 2009-10.

The Supreme Court, too, has been silent on allegations of corruption surrounding Justice Balakrishnan after directing the Central government to file a status report on alleged ‘‘accumulation of wealth’’ by the former CJI and his relatives. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia asked Attorney General GE Vahanvati to file a status report, but nothing has surfaced so far on this front.

Continue reading on next page But Justice Shamsuddin’s revelation will surely compel the government to act. “People approach someone only when they believe or know that the Judge they want to influence is willing to be influenced,” he told Firstpost partner THL Mediagrove_._ “He is under a cloud of suspicion and judges must be above suspicion.”

“I was with Justice Balakrishnan in the Kerala High Court. His behaviour and accumulation of wealth by his relatives has degraded the stature of judiciary.  This is a great threat to democracy because people should not lose respect for the judiciary.”

“When Justice Balakrishnan went to the Madras High Court there was buzz of his misconduct. How he became a judge itself is questionable. That apart, there has been a steady flow of information on Justice Balakrishnan’s misconduct. I am told his son’s marriage was allegedly sponsored by Capt Krishna Nair (Leela Group of Hotels). This is what I have heard. I attended the marriage and I can tell you that it was a lavish affair. The arrangements were high-end.”

“There must be some mechanism to monitor the conduct of judges. It’s almost impossible to impeach Judges. The judges have too much power and they enjoy too much immunity.”

“When I visited Delhi in 2010 there was so much chatter and talk about Justice Balakrishnan’s alleged corrupt practices - even before his retirement. I recall hearing a lot of talk on the Lavalin case. There was lot of talk about his stance against RTI being applicable to judges. In fact, a judgment was delivered against applying RTI to judges and judiciary.”

Justice Shamsuddin’s courageous revelation, the levelling of a specific charge, is another piece of evidence suggesting that all was not well during Justice Balakrishnan’s tenure as Supreme Court judge and Chief Justice of India. Will the government continue to look the other way or ask him to step down in the interest of a fair, transparent and speedy inquiry?