Income tax probe against kith and kin of ex-CJI KG Balakrishnan 'yielded nothing': Centre

New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan on Tuesday got a breather with the government telling Supreme Court that the Income Tax department’s probe into the allegation that his kith and kin had amassed wealth during his tenure as the CJI from January 2007 to May 2010 has “yielded nothing”. “I can file a status report in the sealed cover. The probe has yielded nothing,” Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, whose assistance was sought by the court, told a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh. “It will set dangerous precedents. There cannot be roving CBI inquires where criminal law is set in motion. The person concerned was the Chief Justice of this court. This may open the Pandora’s box. [caption id=“attachment_1060483” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] KG Balakrishnan. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] “There are allegations of financial misdemeanor. Same kind of allegations were made against another former Chief Justice of India by the same petitioner. That CJI has recently passed away,” Rohatgi said. He sought dismissal of the PIL, filed by NGO Common Cause, saying it had also become infructuous as the person concerned, whose removal from the post of Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was sought, has already demitted the office. “I still feel that nothing survives in this petition as they had sought removal of the gentleman from the post of Chairperson of the NHRC and the gentleman is no longer holding the office,” Rohatgi said. Dealing with the allegations against the kith and kin of the ex-CJI, the Attorney General said the brother and son-in- law of the “gentleman” are practising lawyers and “several intricacies of their earning cannot be gone into” at face value. He further said an inquiry can be initiated if “a person earning Rs 100 buys properties worth Rs 10 lakh, the source of the money should be investigated.” The court agreed with the submission and said if a person justifies, then no case can be made out. Earlier, the NGO had conceded that its prayer for removal of Justice Balakrishnan from NHRC did not survive. The NGO, however, had said it will make another prayer seeking a CBI probe into alleged amassing of wealth by the kith and kin of the Justice K G Balakrishnan during his tenure as an apex court judge. The court had sought the assistance of the Attorney General in hearing the PIL. PTI