CJI gives approval to lodge an FIR against sitting High Court Judge
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) recently allowed the filing of an FIR against Justice S.N. Shukla, sitting judge of Allahabad High Court under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). A preliminary judicial inquiry was conducted into the matter by three sitting high court justices, comprising Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Justice PK Jaiswal and Sikkim High Court Chief Justice S K Agnihotri when a complaint regarding ‘serious judicial misconduct’ was filed by Advocate General of UP, Raghvendra Singh. This committee was formed by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Deepak Mishra.
He was found guilty of advancing favours by extending the deadline of admission for admission to a private medical college for the academic year 2017-18. This act was done in a blatant violation of a Supreme Court order. Justice Deepak Mishra had then asked him to resign or seek an early retirement to which he refused. Justice Mishra then withdrew judicial work from him. He made a request for re-allocation of work in front of Justice Gogoi but that request was rejected. Justice Gogoi had also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to move a motion in the Parliament for his removal on account of judicial irregularities and malpractices. [1]
Since no action was taken by the Parliament, he granted permission to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register an FIR against Justice Shukla.
This is for the first time that an FIR would be lodged against a sitting judge of any High Court. The Supreme Court in a five-judge bench judgment in the case of K Veeraswami v Union of India[2] had made it possible to bring the Supreme Court and High Court judges within the purview of the PCA. Until then, only public servants came within its ambit. The Government has to consult the Chief Justice of India before filing the case. The CBI, through preliminary inquiry has to show that the case requires registration of an FIR. In the cases where there is an involvement of the Chief Justice of India, any other judge or judges of the Supreme Court should be consulted.
It is to be seen how the matter is dealt with in the further dates because as observed in the minority opinion in the Veeraswami case, there would be a lot of practical difficulties in dealing with such situations.
Amrashaa Singh
Student Reporter, INBA
[1] ‘CJI permits CBI to lodge case against sitting Allahabad HC judge in graft case’ The Economic Times (New Delhi, 31 July 2019).
[2] K Veeraswami v Union of India 1991 SCR (3) 189.