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Justice Markandey Katju on why shoving corruption by judges under the carpet won’t help

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In this excerpt from his book Whither Indian Judiciary, Justice Markandey Katju talks about corruption in the Madras High Court, the true facts and what happened thereafter.

While many judges are upright, a few are not. I was reprimanded when I made public disclosures about a corrupt Madras High Court judge, who lived under the patronage of powerful politicians.

I feel that shoving corruption by the judges under the carpet for disclosure of corruption will perpetrate more harm than perpetrating corruption itself.

There have been many people who have blatantly believed and said that it is unwise and even dangerous to disclose the corruption in the judiciary. What such people forget is that even if one buries judicial corruption under the carpe, the bulge will show.

In this connection, Judge Jerome Frank of the US Court of Appeals said:
‘I am unable to conceive that in a democracy it can ever be unwise to acquaint the public with the truth about the workings of any branch of government. It is wholly undemocratic to treat the public as children who are unable to accept the inescapable shortcomings of man-made institutions. The best way to bring about the elimination of those shortcomings of our judicial system which are capable of being eliminated is to have all our citizens informed as to how that system now actually functions. It is a mistake, therefore, to try to establish and maintain through ignorance, public esteem for our Courts.’

The true facts about the corrupt Madras High Court Judge

Many a times, I have been asked on why I did not speak out in 2005 about the incident relating to the corrupt Judge of the Madras High Court. My reply is – I was a sitting Judge (Chief Justice of the Madras High Court) at that time and, the judicial discipline and the unwritten code of conduct requires that a judge should not go into the public domain. Therefore, I could not have gone to the press. But I was not silent. I had informed the then Chief Justice of India, both in writing as well as verbally, when I met him in Delhi. The IB report I had requested was made and the claim I had made was proven. I retired in September 2011 and it was only when some Tamilians wrote on my Facebook page asking me to write about some of my experiences as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court that I chose to write about it.

Moreover, the quintessential question about that case is not the timing but whether the claims I had made were true or not. Justice Ruma Pal, who was among the three Judges Supreme Court Collegium (consisting of Justices Lahoti, Sabharwal and Ruma Pal), had vindicated me and issued a statement proclaiming that she had written a letter to Justice Lahoti, objecting to the continuance of that corrupt Judge. Also, the letter by the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, which exhorted the continuity of the corrupt Judge, has now come to light, thereby bringing up the question of political pressure.

In some newspapers, it was reportedly suggested that I should not have recommended the alleged corrupt judge for elevation to the High Court. The fact is, I had never recommended the alleged corrupt judge. Rather, it was my predecessor who had recommended him.

Time and again, it is enquired of me as to what I did when I discovered the misconduct of the Judge… But after I had informed the then CJI about my suspicions, it was for him to do the needful. I could not go into the public domain as it is against judicial discipline.

In conformity to the existing conundrum, here is an opinion published on 12 August 2014 in the Times of India blog where the writer, a journalist himself, voices the popular notion.

CJI Lodha is defending the indefensible
By Chandan Nandy (An Indian journalist)

“At a time, when recent disclosures by the former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markanday Katju have indicated that judicial corruption is a significant problem in India, Chief Justice of India R. M. Lodha’s defence of the judiciary and the collegium system of selecting Judges for the higher courts, is rather weak.

For years together, the Indian judiciary has considered itself above the law, abusing the authority and independence and stubbornly refusing to be accountable to the public, which it is meant to serve. And with Justice Katju having launched a virulent attack on the pernicious phenomenon of judicial corruption alongside moral and ethical compromises of the Judges, Justice Lodha’s outburst on Monday, that ‘defaming’ the judiciary will ‘shake the people’s confidence’ in it, sounds rather hollow.

For the first time in years, the judiciary has found itself on the back-foot and on the defensive, as damaging allegations of skulduggery tumble out at regular intervals. Justice Katju has not defamed the judiciary; he has merely exposed the decay that had set in a long time ago. Judicial corruption in India is rampant and pervasive and has eaten away the vitals of this once haloed institution.

Justice Katju’s allegations do not appear to be part of a ‘misleading campaign’ to defame the judiciary, as Justice Lodha remarked. In fact, while in the Supreme Court, Justice Katju and another colleague on the same Bench, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, declared in a judgement (Raja Khan vs. UP Sunni Central Waqf Board) on November 26, 2010, that ‘Something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court’. Justices Katju and Misra, could not have had made this observation in their judgement without sufficient facts.

The Supreme Court enjoys powers to investigate individual cases of corruption and misdemeanours of the judges, but seldom does it employ this authority to probe such cases. By failing to do so, wilfully or otherwise, isn’t the country’s highest Court chipping away at the very foundations of the judiciary? Isn’t it a passive contributor to the erosion of public trust and confidence in the institution?”

Other Instances

There was a judge of a High Court in India, who had earned a bad reputation about his integrity. On this account, he was transferred to the Allahabad High Court. Later, with the passage of time, he became very senior and went onto become the Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court. Some people started demanding that he be made the Chief Justice of some High Court, and later brought to the Supreme Court.

The then Chief Justice of India, Justice Kapadia, had received several complaints concerning this judge. He was informed that even after his transfer to Allahabad, he was indulging in corruption. Justice Kapadia requested me to bring the truth to light (I was then a judge of the Supreme Court).

At that time, I had to go to Allahabad, my hometown to attend a function. While there, I contacted some lawyers who were known to me. I got three mobile numbers of the alleged agents of this judge, through whom he was allegedly taking money. On returning to Delhi, I gave these numbers to Justice Kapadia, suggesting that he got these numbers tapped through intelligence agencies.

About two months thereafter, Justice Kapadia told me that he had done as I had suggested, which confirmed our doubts. Consequently the Judge was not allowed to become the Chief Justice of any High Court or Judge of the Supreme Court.

I may give another example. When I was the Acting Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, I went to Delhi and met Justice Lahoti, the then Chief Justice of India. I gave him a chit containing five names of judges of the Allahabad High Court, who were allegedly up to no good.

Later, some of the five judges whose names I had given were transferred to another High Court.

This excerpt has been published by special arrangement with Bloomsbury Publishing India.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. The retired judge of the Supreme Court of India Markandey Katju is a pedophile
    I’m based in NRI in the United States. A few years ago, my custody case reached the Supreme Court and it was decided in favor of the mother who had moved to India. The case of the Supreme Court was decided by the court of A.Kabir and Markandey Katju.
    I recently learned from my daughter, who was 10 years old and 19 now, that during the hearing of the case, Markandey Katju had asked my wife to leave my daughter and my son in his official residence several times on the pretext of knowing the mentality from both. my children. My daughter recently shared some things that make my blood boil.
    This happened several times during the course of the court litigation. My ex-wife was super naïve or super-evil for voluntarily sacrificing the innocence of my children to appease the pedophile judges.
    I just can not sleep anymore now. Fortunately, I can now talk to my daughter, since she is independent and can not be controlled by her mother. But I can not find out from my son what this monster animal that occupied the position of judge could have done.

    The question is, what is the resource I have now? I can not visit India: LOC, NBW and many other things that emanate from my old marriage dispute.
    I want to take responsibility and justice to what Katju did to my children. Please help.

    images.duckduckgo.com

  2. Sir why did you apologize to these bullies when they issued contempt notice to you ? we were supporting your right to freedom of expression but you surrendered. If retired Supreme Court Judge can be shut up what hope is there for us common people. be strong this time

  3. -Judicial overreach into legislative affairs
    -Judicial Committees to run everything from cricket to banking in India
    -Hidden selection of judges, no minutes of collegium meeting, no public access to records on selection
    -No live court feed
    -Low representation for women on benches
    -Managed benches for political cases
    -Overwhelming backlog of cases, average 15-20 years for justice

    &

    -CORRUPTION-

    Indian Judicary is today close to total failure. At least some people are willing to talk about it now. None less than Honorable Justice Katju. Time for India to wake up. Judiciary is worse than parliament now and that is some achievement.

    Jai Hind.

  4. Why not appoint Markandey Katju to Head the Lokpal? He has the grit and brains for the post.

    I can already see the shivers running down the spines of certain judges, civil servants and politicians ?

    Modiji, Katju for Lokpal??

  5. Great piece. I often wonder why there are not more voices from within the judicial fraternity bringing to light how rotten it has become at the core. Corruption is just one malaise of many. A lack of clear reasoning in their judgments, off hand pronouncements in court that resemble a street rabble exchange, opaque selection & promotions of judges, overall lack of transparency in their administrative working, total hypocrisy in tackling workplace harresment/complaints against judges and not to mention a highly suspicious “line to succession” for the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I hope Justice Katju’s article and book embolden more responsible voices to speak up and push for real change. Justice Chambelshwar has been a lone voice of reform on the SC.

  6. The brotherhood is tight. They must have treated Markandey Katju very poorly for him to speak up against them. It will be a delicious eruption of past sins if the brotherhood issues a contempt notice (for the second time) against Katju, over this book, I hope they are that stupid. It’s a reckoning long overdue. The brotherhood must be broken apart and in its place an institution befitting the Republic must serve all without fear or favor.

  7. Respected Katjuji, your lifetime of work speaks through your judgments. Many of which went against powerful people, societal ills and vested interests. You were not afraid to change your mind and accept you were wrong on something. YET, on this subject, I must ask; why did you accept the elevation of a lawyer to judgeship in Delhi High Court despite his name being rejected at least twice before. I won’t name him but he was known to have a family connection to the most powerful politician at the time (power behind the throne). He also turned out to be a highly corrupt judge. This was not a sanguine choice for judgeship and I wonder if you came under pressure by political forces to select him? If so, that would be a shame.

  8. Did -clean- Justice Katju cave to Political pressure from UPA on some cases? Is that not a cardinal sin for judicial independace as well? I recall the “Talibanisation” observation by him in one case lead to him withdrawing a judgment after political pressure from Manhoman Singh government. Even if the Govt disagreed with his judgment, the correct process was for the case to be heard by a larger bench not withdrawn by a judge. It is only fair he writes about these developments in his book or he is covering up the malaise.

  9. Sir many of us would have wanted you to publish this book earlier but we are still happy you have published. Your many judgments are an inspiration to many of us who believe in the law. I live in Canada but have been following developments home in India. My family are all fans of your work Katju Sir.

  10. Sadly Katju was an aberration from the norm. There are far too many corrupt judges in our courtrooms for Lady Justice to thrive in India. We may have honest judges though there is little evidence of their spine. Sitting quiet whilst their colleagues loot the country is a disgrace but a common affair in today’s India.

  11. Sir, your integrity and impartiality are legendary from your stint as CJ of Delhi HC. We were slightly taken aback with your unique style of managing the courtroom but never could one raise a finger on your legal reasonening or independence.

  12. The Nation would surely have benefited to see Justice Katju serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before his retirement.
    One suspects this was not an accidental oversight of the system and his honesty cost him the opportunity to be ‘first amongst equals’ on the Apex Court.

  13. Justice Katju is undoubtedly one of India’s few public role models for his fearless pursuit of justice for the downtrodden and unquestionable integrity. We salute you Sir.

  14. Transfer is no punishment for an errant bureaucrat. Much less so for a judge. While it may be a temporary expedient, a better course of action, more fair to litigants, would be to withdraw judicial work from the individual and to complete a fair, time bound enquiry. Either the CJI, acting as head of the judiciary, or the collegium, to make the process more broad based, could initiate the enquiry and to ensure removal of the judge if the charges are proven. No reason, in law or equity, why this should not be followed by prosecution if there is sufficient evidence. In none of the cases mebtioned in the column do the concerned judges have faced stringent action. The judiciary does not show similar indulgence to other oublic servants.

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