Even as the judiciary is under public scrutiny with allegations of corruption flying in the thick air against some judges and even former CJI, the Supreme Court on Thursday said it has no hesitation in hearing arguments on judicial “corruption” if they surface in the course of a “contempt of court” case against activist lawyer Prashant
Bhushan. While rejecting Mr Bhushan’s written “explanation” about his certain comments about sitting CJI S.H. Kapadia in a media interview of 2009, a three-judge bench refused to “cow down” with a virtual alarm sounded by Bhushan’s lawyer Ram Jethmalani telling the court plainly “don’t open the can of worms” by going ahead with the proceedings.
The unfazed bench, headed by Justices Altamas Kabir, the senior most judge in line to be the next Chief Justice of India and comprising Justices Cyriac Joseph and H.L. Dattu told Jethmalani “it is up to you if you wish to open it (the can of worms)... let us call a spade a spade”.
“We are not willing to accept this explanation when we have passed an order on the maintainability” of the petition on the contempt proceedings, Justice Kabir said. The top court wanted nothing less than an “apology” from Mr Bhushan while rejecting his written explanation. Mr Bhushan in his explanation said that his remarks against Justice Kapadia were “misconstrued by some as imputations of financial corruption”.
“Justice Kapadia is widely perceived to be a judge of absolute financial integrity and I fully share that perception,” said his note while pointing out that he had expressed the same views in his two affidavits filed in December 2009 and September 2010.
Regarding former law minister Shanti Bhushan’s plea on the issue, the court said it would consider it later. Mr Shanti Bhushan said he had submitted a list of 16 former CJIs to the court in a “sealed cover” and based on the information available with him, he could say with certainty that there were serious allegations of “corruption against eight of them”.