By IANS,
Chandigarh : Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmal Yadav Friday proceeded on leave after her name figured in the stunning cash-for-judge scam.
A notice put up by the high court outside her court Friday said that her cases stood transferred to Justice S.D. Anand.
Punjab and Haryana High Court judicial registrar G.K. Khanna told IANS here that he got to know about Justice Yadav going on leave only Friday.
Justice Yadav’s name figured in the scam involving high court judges and some senior lawyers of the city.
Her decision to go on leave came a day after the high court’s administrative committee, headed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, met here Thursday.
Court sources said that the committee discussed whether cases be withdrawn from Justice Yadav or she be asked to proceed on leave.
The sources revealed that Justice Yadav told the committee, which comprises senior most judges of the high court, that she had nothing to do with the scandal.
The scam relates to the delivery of Rs.1.5 million in cash at the residence of another high court judge, Nirmaljit Kaur, here Aug 13 by an assistant of former Haryana additional advocate general Sanjeev Bansal.
Kaur called the police after the packet containing the cash was delivered. This led to a case being registered against Bansal and others. Four people, including Bansal, have been arrested.
Bansal and others have admitted that the cash was to be sent to another judge and not to Nirmalijit Kaur. They said the money went to her house erroneously.
Police investigations have found that the money was related to a property deal that a number of people, including the judge, had clinched last week in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district.
Those arrested have told the police that even after erroneously sending the money to the house of the wrong judge, another packet containing the same amount was later sent by Bansal to the judge concerned.
The scam has not only embarrassed the high court but virtually divided the judges as well as lawyers.
Sixtyfive lawyers, including some senior ones, Wednesday filed affidavits before a local court to defend Bansal when he was produced in the court after his arrest.
Bansal, who is considered close to top politicians from the region and also to some judges, was forced to quit as Haryana’s additional advocate general after the scam broke out.