‘Conspiracy against CJI’ to be probed by ex-judge

A three-judge bench of justice Arun Mishra, justice RF Nariman and justice Deepak Gupta on Thursday ordered a probe by retired Supreme Court judge AK Patnaik into allegations by an advocate that there is a larger conspiracy to frame Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, against whom a former staffer has levelled charges of sexual harassment.

Separately, Supreme Court justice NV Ramana recused himself from the three-member committee formed to inquire into the allegations. Justice Indu Malhotra replaced justice Ramana on the committee. Justice Malhotra is also a member of the Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee at the Supreme Court. Justice Ramana’s exit came a day after the former SC staffer wrote a letter to the committee raising concerns over his presence on it.

In her letter dated 24 April, she wrote: “I would humbly submit that since I was posted in the CJI’s residence office, I know that justice N V Ramana is a close friend of the CJI and is like a family member to him. Justice Ramana is a frequent visitor to the residence of the CJI. Because of this I fear that my affidavit and evidence will not receive an objective and fair hearing.”

The three-member panel is headed by justice SA Bobde and also has justice Indira Banerjee on it. It was constituted by the Supreme Court on Tuesday after a full court resolution to the effect was passed.

Justice Bobde confirmed that he had received a recusal letter from justice Ramana.

In his letter to justice Bobde, justice Ramana wrote: “My decision to recuse is only based on an intent to avoid any suspicion that this institution will not conduct itself in keeping with the highest standards of judicial propriety and wisdom. It is the extraordinary nature of the complaint, and the evolving circumstances and discourse that underly my decision to recuse and not the grounds cited by the complainant per se. Let my recusal be a clear message to the nation that there should be no fears about probity in our institution, and that we will not refrain from going to any extent to protect the trust reposed in us. That is, after all, our final source of moral strength.”

The former staffer, on April 19, wrote a letter to 22 judges of the top court seeking an inquiry into an alleged incident of sexual harassment by the CJI.

The three-member committee is to begin its inquiry into the matter from Friday. According to a notice served on the former staffer by the Supreme Court registry, the inquiry will begin at 12.30 pm at the Supreme Court and the proceedings will be held in camera.

Earlier, the bench looking into the allegations by lawyer Utsav Bains, claiming that the allegations against Chief Justice Gogoi were part of a conspiracy involving the former staffer, two recently fired Supreme Court clerks, and corporate fixers, ordered the directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Bureau, and the Delhi Police commissioner to cooperate with justice Patnaik.

Drawing a distinction between the probe being conducted by a three-member committee and the one being ordered by it, the bench said, “We make it clear that this inquiry shall not be with respect to the alleged misbehaviour involving the Chief Justice of India. This is with respect to the contents of the affidavits, whether the affidavits are correct or not.”

“The outcome of the inquiry shall not affect the in-house procedure/inquiry which is pending in the administrative side in any manner whatsoever,” added the court order.

The bench also delivered a sharp warning to people who were attempting to use money or political power to manipulate the judicial system.

‘Don’t play with fire… We want to send a message to people of the country, the rich and powerful that they cannot control or run this court. Time has come to tell the world that the Supreme Court cannot be run by money power or political power. The powerful think they can run this country. When somebody tries to clean up the system, or take action, he is killed or maligned,” justice Arun Mishra said.

The observation was directed at people, who a lawyer claimed, were also involved in influencing the decision to refer a case to a particular judge, or as the court put it, “bench fixing”.

“We are not commenting on any issue. We don’t want to take names but everybody tries to influence every time there is a big matter! Letters are written in pending matters! Books are printed! And these are people for whom senior advocates are appearing! Whenever big persons are involved, this happens in this court,” said justice Mishra.

After Bains detailed his allegations in a secret affidavit, the Supreme Court judges said there was “a systematic attack or game to run the court”.

“We are anguished at the way this institution has been treated for the last three, four years… This institution will die,” the court said at Thursday’s hearing.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde welcomed the investigation by a retired judge. “It is good that the allegations are being probed by somebody and the Supreme Court has reposed a lot of trust in justice Patnaik in the past as well. Justice Patnaik helped out the court when he looked into allegations against former CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] director Alok Verma,” he said.