By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday asked the government what action it has taken on the representation by NGO Common Cause alleging “grave misbehaviour” against National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chief K.G. Balakrishnan.
The apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar asked Attorney General G. Vahanvati to inform the court whether any action had been taken by the government on the representation made by the NGO or what it proposed to do about it.
The petitioner alleged that when Balakrishnan was an apex court judge, his relatives, including his two sons-in-law and brother, amassed wealth to the tune of Rs.40 crore.
The court told counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Common Cause, that it wanted to know “if there was no response from the government”. He replied in the negative.
The court also inquired if their valuation of Rs.40 crore of the wealth was made by some approved assessor. Bhushan told the court that it was an estimation based on local market value.
When Justice Swatanter Kumar asked if any of the properties mentioned in the petition was owned by Balakrishnan, Bhushan said all of them were owned by his relatives.
“Despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence indicating that Justice Balakrishnan has been guilty of several acts of grave misbehaviour, the government has not taken any step for his removal from the NHRC,” the petition said.
When another petitioner in the matter Manohar Lal Sharma sought to described Balakrishnan as ex-chief justice of India, Chief Justice Kapadia said that “this is not against ex-CJI”.
Common Cause named Justice Balakrishnan’s bother late K.G. Bhaskaran, son-in-laws P.V. Sreenijan and M.J. Benny and two daughters K.B. Soni and Rani K.B. for allegedly purchasing assets beyond their known sources of income.
The court has fixed March 12 as the next date of hearing by which time the central government will inform the court about the action it has taken on the representations made by Common Cause.