Blitz Bureau
THE Supreme Court adjourned hearing on a matter where it has suo moto stayed the operation of a decision of the Lokpal holding that the anti-corruption body can entertain complaints against High Court judges, reports IANS.
A Special Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant and Abhay S Oka, when assembled in the post-lunch session on April 15, said that the suo moto case would take at least two hours of hearing and decided to list the matter for final hearing on April 30.
In the previous hearing, the Justice Gavai-led Bench appointed senior advocate Ranjit Kumar as an amicus curiae, clarifying that the apex court would only examine the question of jurisdiction of the Lokpal and would not enter into the merits of the allegations raised by the complainant.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that high court judges, a constitutional functionary, will never fall within the ambit of the anti-corruption law. In an interim order passed on February 20, the Supreme Court stayed the operation of the impugned decision of the Lokpal after the anti-corruption body referred the two complaints to the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) containing the allegations that a sitting additional judge of a high court influenced his colleague and an additional district judge who had to deal with the suit filed against the complainant by a private company.
“Something very very disturbing,” the Justice Gavai-led Bench had remarked as it issued notice to the Union Government and the Registrar of the Lokpal.
Ordering a stay on the impugned decision, the apex court remarked that the issue was of great importance as it related to the independence of the judiciary.
In an order passed on January 27, the Lokpal ruled that it can entertain complaints against judges of the High Court established by an Act of Parliament.
“(B)y this order, we have decided a singular issue finally – as to whether the Judges of the High Court established by an Act of Parliament come within the ambit of Section 14 of the Act of 2013, in the affirmative. No more and no less. In that, we have not looked into or examined the merits of the allegations at all,” the Lokpal had said
