Former CJI KG Balakrishnan faced fresh scrutiny on Monday over allegations of holding illegal assets in name of his kin as Supreme Court set a three-week deadline for Centre to respond to a PIl that demanded his ouster as Chairperson of NHRC on the above charges.
In all, five charges were brought by the PIl petitioner Common Cause against the former CJI, who retired on May 11, 2010 and went on to preside over NHRC a month later since June 7. The allegations were earlier raised by Common Cause in 2012 when the Court asked the Government to take an appropriate decision on the allegations.
Coming back with a response received from Ministry of Home Affairs on January 29. Common Cause lawyer Prashant Bhushan pointed out that the Centre was not inclined to proceed with any action as it felt the acts during the tenure as CJI cannot be a ground to seek his removal as NHRC Chairperson.
Under Section 5(2) of Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, on ground of misconduct, a Presidential Reference can be initiated from the Centre to remove NHRC Chairperson. But the Government reply said, “The functions of the Commission (NHRC) cannot be said to be an elongation of the judicial functions which Shri Balakrishnan discharged in the Supreme Court as CJI…his conduct as CJI does not appear to be a relevant ground for making a presidential reference to the SC under Section 5(2).”