Common Cause Seeks SIT Probe Against Ex- CJI KG Balakrishnan [Read Petition]

NGO Common Cause has moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking an SIT investigation against former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan for "possession of disproportionate assets".

Advocate Prashant Bhushan had filed a writ petition for Common Cause in 2013, with a prayer for direction to the Union of India for initiating steps for the removal of Justice Balakrishnan as the NHRC Chairperson by making a reference to the Supreme Court under Section 5(2) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, for holding an inquiry against him.

However, the tenure of Justice Balakrishnan as the NHRC came to an end on 11.05.2015, and therefore, the aforementioned prayer became infructuous. So, the NGO moved an application to allow for the substitution of the existing prayer in the writ petition with the following prayer:

“… issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ directing an independent investigation by an SIT or the CBI into the alleged possession of disproportionate assets by Respondent No. 2.”

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said income tax assessment details of the relatives of Justice Balakrishnan make "shocking revelations”.

A bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice R Banumati directed the government to file its reply in the matter.

Bhushan, on the basis of a chart, stated that the assessing officers of income tax department computed the income of relatives of Justice Balakrishnan much in excess of the income they had declared.

He submitted that this makes out a clear case of possession of disproportionate assets by a person who had once been the CJI. The attached chart was placed by the government in the Supreme Court on the basis of orders passed by the court in this very case.

Read the petition here.