Monday, December 22, 2008 13:30 [IST]
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has recommended the transfer of four High Court judges to pave the way for CBI to carry free and fair investigation into the Uttar Pradesh provident fund scam in which the names of 34 judges, including one from the apex court, and judicial officers have allegedly cropped up.
The apex court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, has recommended the transfer of three Allahabad High Court judges - Justices Sushil Harkoli, Tarun Agrawal and R Mishra. The fourth judge, Justice J S Rawat is from Uttarakhand High Court, court sources said.
A Bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat on September 23 had handed over the investigation into the scam to the CBI after Ghaziabad SP had expressed difficulty in carrying out the probe into the scam involving judicial officers.
After CBI probe was ordered into the scam, the collegium, consisting of five senior most judges of the apex court, had refused to confirm additional judge A K Singh as permanent a judge of the Allahabad HC. The state government had also given its consent to transfer the probe to the CBI.
Though the apex court had entrusted the probe to the CBI asking it to file the status report in three months, it had not passed any specific order relating to the probe against the sitting judges which was sought earlier.
The 34 members of judiciary whose names have cropped up in the scam include a Supreme Court judge, seven Allahabad High Court judges, six retired High Court judges and 12 judges from subordinate judiciary in Uttar Pradesh.
In the initial probe into the alleged embezzlement of over Rs seven crore from the PF belonging to Class III and IV staff of the District Court, Ghaziabad, it was found that 39 "outsiders" were shown as IVth grade employees.
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Tags : Constitutional Law
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