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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | PMO reveals graft complaints against CJI, AG -Manoj Mitta

PMO reveals graft complaints against CJI, AG -Manoj Mitta

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published Published on Aug 30, 2013   modified Modified on Aug 30, 2013
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: In a remarkable instance of transparency, the Prime Minister's Office made public under RTI a complaint which had been given to it leveling allegations of corruption against, among others, chief justice of India P Sathasivam, his predecessor Altamas Kabir and attorney general G E Vahanvati.

The PMO's disclosure on August 23 of these as-yet unverified allegations complied with a statutory safeguard. The RTI reply specifically said that "the concerned third parties were given opportunity to make representations regarding disclosure of the documents" in accordance with section 11 of RTI.

Responding to a plea from RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, the PMO added for good measure that it was enclosing a copy of the complaint, which had been sent by journalist M Furquan on May 5, "after completing the third party procedures".

All this implies that the PMO decided to disclose Furquan's complaint after notifying not only him but also the other "concerned third parties" - namely, the judges and law officer - who had been attacked by him. For, section 11 stipulates that no confidential information "which relates to or has been supplied by a third party" can be disclosed without observing the principles of natural justice.

Interesting, in the same RTI reply, the PMO declined to disclose another complaint, which was only against Kabir and had been filed on March 19 by chief justice of the Gujarat high court Bhaskar Bhattacharya.

The explanation given by the PMO for withholding it is telling: Justice Bhattacharya stated that "his communication was confidential in nature and is meant for constitutional functionaries concerning a particular subject matter. He has therefore requested that the contents of the letter should not be disclosed to any person/authority, who is not a participant in the process. In view of the submission made by the third party, the information cannot be provided."

The grounds for withholding Bhattacharya's letter, which had been written towards the end of Kabir's tenure as CJI, make the disclosure of Furqan's letter under the same provision all the more significant. In any event, it is contrary to the trend of being cagey about disclosing information relating to judicial accountability.

As for the action taken on Furquan's complaint, the PMO said generally that it had been filed "as per guidelines for processing of public petitions in the office". The six-page complaint attributed ulterior motives to several judicial decisions taken by Kabir and other Supreme Court judges. It also all alleged that there was an "unholy nexus" between Kabir and Vahanvati.


The Times of India, 30 August, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PMO-reveals-graft-complaints-against-CJI-AG/articleshow/22153198.cms


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