Bench Weakness

—Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on the case.

"Media can always report these issues, highlighting the charge without commenting on it. There is an urgent need for some mechanism that will take up cases where members of the judiciary are facing some kind of corruption charges." 

—P.B. Sawant, former judge, Supreme Court of India

"It is unfortunate we have no law to remove a sitting judge if he is found incompetent or facing corruption charges. The media should freely report on corruption in the judiciary. Section 19 (1) (a) covers freedom of expression of the media." 

—Hosbet Suresh, retired judge, Bombay High Court

"Members of the judiciary are part of society. They can be questioned. A recorded statement under Section 164 already submitted in the court is a public document. Anyone can read it and report it. It is perfectly all right to report it." 

—Rajindar Sachar, former judge, Delhi High Court

"I am not saying that there shouldn’t be any accountability of members of judiciary but before going ahead a thorough probe in full confidentiality is required. Reason: if the person named is later exonerated, the damage is very high." 

—V.S. Malimath, former Chief Justice, Karnataka & Kerala High Courts

***

Going by the confessions of Ghaziabad Court treasury official Ashok Asthana, this is the volume of cash/largesse passed on to judges and court officials from the employees’ PF fund:

• Monthly cash component: Rs 4 lakh
• Shopping, household expenses, travel, medical: Rs 4 lakh
• Average monthly outflow per judge/official: Rs 8 lakh
• Annual payment per judge/official: Rs 96 lakh
• Yearly Embezzlement: Rs 34.56 crore

***

So who were these people in high places alleged to have been beneficiaries of the multi-crore embezzlement of PF funds of Class III and IV employees of the courts? Outlook, after seeking the views of senior retired judges, has decided to print the names of those allegedly involved in the scam. The list of the judges surfaced after Ashutosh Asthana, a treasury official in the Ghaziabad court, recorded his statement under Section 164 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) before Ghaziabad judicial magistrate Dinesh Kumar six months ago. Legally, his submission is admissible in a court of law as evidence and has become a matter of official record.

Click Here For Large Picture

Says Nahar Singh Yadav, senior lawyer and former president of the Bar Association of Ghaziabad, "Asthana has named the people who were involved, including the judges as well as their kith and kin who were also beneficiaries. And as soon as the documents were submitted before the Supreme Court it has become a public document. The names of all the judges are out in the open." It was Yadav who filed the PIL to the Allahabad High Court and, later, the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the case.

The scam came to light after Rama Jain, the vigilance officer of the Ghaziabad court noticed discrepancies in the PF accounts of Class III and IV employees. Her investigations led her to alert the Allahabad High Court, which asked her to file an FIR. Investigations by local police were slow and hit a roadblock when it came to questioning the judges. This was when Yadav filed a PIL in the high court in March 2008 seeking a CBI inquiry. However, despite the court's guidelines to the police, there was little headway. Yadav then approached the Supreme Court.

The modus operandi for siphoning out the PF money has been detailed by Asthana—a key player in the scam. Fake requests for advance release of monies from PF accounts by employees were submitted by Asthana. These were approved by the then district judges and the money was withdrawn and distributed. The scam had been going on since 2001, though neither Asthana nor the investigators have a clear picture of the total volume of the amounts involved. All that the treasury official has computed is the average monies he used to distribute every month in the past few years.

Asthana's detailed confessions also contain other revelations:

• He has given details of the money illegally withdrawn from the PF accounts of various employees.
  
• He has confessed that the PF money changed hands only through him or with his knowledge.
  
• Asthana has named seven district judges who gave their consent for pulling out the money.
  
• He alleges that the 33 judges and three court employees were paid on an average Rs 4 lakh by him in cash every month, excluding household expenses, travel and shopping bills.
  
• Here is what Asthana had to say about R.P. Yadav, a former judge of the Allahabad High Court: "I used to pay his monthly household expenses, around Rs 25,000 to 30,000, from the PF money. His son studied at the Institute of Management and Technology, Ghaziabad, and the entire fees were paid from this money. Anokhelal, the official contractor of the Ghaziabad court, did all the woodwork at his Gomti Nagar residence in Lucknow. The total cost was about Rs 1,00,000-2,00,000. It was paid by me from the PF accounts."
  
• Asthana has furnished bills pertaining to various purchases allegedly made on behalf of judges. The receipts bear their names. The purchases by him ranged from TVs to furnishing. Some of the owners of establishments which sold the goods have been arrested by the UP police following Asthana's statement.
  
• In 10 months, between April 2007 and January 2008, Asthana bought 33 mobile phones worth about Rs 3 lakh. All purchases were allegedly made for judges from the same store—Touchpower, Kalkagarhi Chowk, Ghaziabad.