The controversy over a minister of Dr Manmohan Singh's Cabinet directly influencing a judge of the Madras High Court reached its peak when the Prime Minister's Office, Chief Justice of India and principal opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party took the matter to its logical conclusion.
The PM, on Tuesday, sought details from Telecom minister A Raja about a judge of the Madras High court telling an open court that the minister had sought to influence his decision in a case. The BJP also raised the issue in its regular press briefing.
Earlier, in a startling revelation, Justice R Reghupathy, a Madras High Court judge told an open court that a Union minister had sought to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a doctor and his son in a forged mark sheet case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
An agitated Justice R Reghupathy on Monday evening said, "A Union minister talked to me and sought to influence me to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners."
Justice Reghupathy made the remarks when the advocate, appearing for S Kirub Shridhar, a third-year student in a private medical college in Puducherry, and his father Krishnamoorthy, complained that the judge was not granting his clients' bail on the basis of the prosecution's submissions. The advocate's remarks came when the judge said he was not inclined to grant any relief as their pleas had been rejected by him on June 15.
"The Union minister talked to me about the matter. You know every thing. Unless an unconditional apology is tendered by you, I will incorporate every detail in my order," said Justice Reghupathy. Justice Reghupathy said he would also be writing to the Prime Minister on the 'pressure exerted' on him. The judge, however, did not name the minister.
The CBI had filed a case against the father-son duo for allegedly using the services of a Puducherry University official and a middle man to inflate Shridhar's marks.
Meanwhile, the issue got more murkier when Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan commented about ministerial interference in the judicial system. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Justice K G Balakrishnan said the incident was an attempt to interference in judiciary and was not a good practice. He also said ministers should refrain from contacting judges on matters pending in courts."It is interference in the judiciary. It is not a good practice. It is not good for judiciary. Ministers should refrain from contacting judges over matters pending in courts," Balakrishnan said.
The BJP asked the prime minister to probe this incident and sack the minister.
Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the judge had made the charge of a minister calling him up and seeking favour in a case in an open court and hence it is a very serious matter of the blatant attempt to influence the judiciary. The minister has committed a criminal contempt and the judge has already threatened to identify him unless he apologises, Prasad added at a press briefing at the party headquarters inNew Delhi.
Sources said the Prime Minister's Office swung into action on Monday itself on learning about the judge's anguished remark and it has identified Communication Minister A Raja as the minister concerned in a report submitted to Dr Manmohan Singh.
