ANOTHER JUDGE REFUSES TO HEAR PF SCAM CASE

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, hearing a petition against sitting and retired High Court and District Judges, said to be involved in a Rs 26 crore provident fund scam in Ghaziabad, witnessed an unruly scene on Thursday with Justice BN Agrawal being the second judge in a span of ten days who refused to hear the case being upset over comments by senior advocate Shanti Bhushan.

On July 30, Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan had refused to hear the case any further after Bhushan challenged an administrative order given by the Chief Justice instructing the SSP of Uttar Pradesh police to send its queries of what was sought to be asked from the judges. Bhushan, who argued on behalf of NGO Transparency International criticised that such a practice was 'unheard of' and sought to challenge its correctness, forcing the Chief Justice to constitute another bench headed by Justice BN Agrawal, the second senior-most judge.

The argument commenced on August 1 before a three-judge bench headed by Justice Agrawal and proceeded for two and a half days. On Thursday, Bhushan commenced arguments by stating that the orders passed by the court give an impression that 'this court is giving protection to corrupt judicial officers.' The Bench warned him to refrain from making such 'contemptuous' remarks. Bhushan, however, refused to apologise stating he accepted to be hauled for contempt instead.

The matter then proceeded when he decided to withdraw his comment and proceeded with the arguments in the case. The hearing was marred by intermittent stops caused by disagreement on the arguments made from the Bench. At one point, when Bhushan sought to explain the power of the police to arrest being restricted, Justice Agrawal took umbrage and said, "We don't know how you being an eminent lawyer of this country is arguing in this manner" and later compared his arguments to that of a 'street urchin'.

The argument before the court was on the crucial aspect of which investigating agency, whether the CBI or the state police are well-equipped to handle a scandal of this huge dimension involving judges. But the argument went on a different tangent, as the nitty-gritty of criminal investigation became the subject of debate.

Things were under control till Prashant Bhushan got up and charged the Bench of pushing his father against the wall. Enraged by the Court's quizzing his father, Prashant said, "You are again and again putting words in the mouth of the senior counsel."

This added the necessary spark with both the judge and the lawyer crossing swords. Alarmed by the backlash, the Bench remarked, "What business has Shanti Bhushan to shout at judges. He has conducted professional misconduct. We would have initiated contempt proceedings, but we wont do it out of respect for the senior counsel." Ruing the precedent set by him, the judge said, "The way in which Bar is behaving we are sorry. You are only here to abuse the judiciary. If this is the state of affairs, we cannot hear the case."

Source: The Pioneer