(
Reproduced from Times of India September 10, 2008
page 1)
Graft cases
knock on SC door
UP Police Name 34 Judges In PF Scam, Ask SC
For CBI Probe
Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN
New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh police
has identified 34 sitting judges, including one in
the Supreme Court, as among those allegedly involved
in the embezzlement of provident fund money of class
IV employees of the Ghaziabad court. The development
extends the crisis of credibility facing government
institutions to the judiciary as well and could
perhaps jolt it into reconsidering whether to persist
with the immunity that the judges enjoy.
Besides an apex court
judge, those under the scanner include eight judges
in the Allahabad high court, one each in the
Uttarakhand and Calcutta HCs and 23 lower court
judges.
The case involves
fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 23 crore from the PF
deposits of class IV employees of the courts in
Ghaziabad by the treasury officer, Ashutosh Asthana.
The treasury officer took out the money by forging
applications of employees which were approved by the
district judges concerned, many of whom have since
been elevated to High Courts and the Supreme Court.
The allegation is that
Asthana’s operations which were spread over 5
years would not have continued so long without the
indulgence of the district judge. And the SSP of
Ghaziabad, after probing the matter, also concurred
with the dominant opinion that many of the district
judges were acting in concert with the treasury
official in allowing the withdrawal of the money from
the PF accounts.
The preliminary
finding of the police chief of Ghaziabad forced the
Supreme Court to recognise the necessity of handing
over the embarrassing matter to the Central Bureau of
Investigation for a “transparent and fair
probe’’.
Stating that the
judges concerned, who served as district judge of
Ghaziabad at different points of time, appeared to be
“directly involved in this scam’’, the
SSP stressed in his report: “Several
documentary/oral evidences have been collected
against one judge of the Supreme Court, 10 judges of
the HCs and 23 judicial officers of district
level.’’
JUDGES
Under Scanner
Ghaziabad PF Scam
A vigilance officer exposes misappropriation of Rs 23
crore from PF of Class III and IV employees of
Ghaziabad district court. Accused Ashutosh Asthana,
former court official, claims he used part of money
to gift electronic gadgets, jewellery and furniture
to 1 SC judge, 10 HC judges and 23 lower court judges
Ghaziabad SSP says
local cops can’t carry out effective probe into
these judges since they appear before them, suggests
CBI probe. SC asks UP govt to consider handing over
case to the CBI
Cash-For-Judge Scam
CJI permits CBI to question 2 Punjab & Haryana HC
judges about Rs 15 lakh sent to one of them by a
Haryana law officer
This goes beyond limited permission given to UP
police to send questionnaires to the judges involved
in the Ghaziabad case
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