India Balakrishnan Insists That Raja's Name Was Not Mentioned

[rajneesh madhok]

NEW DELHI: Facing criticism on the controversy surrounding former minister A Raja allegedly attempting to influence a Madras High Court judge, former CJI K G Balakrishnan today insisted that the minister's name was not mentioned by Justice H L Gokhale in his report.

Joining issue with sitting Supreme Court judge Gokhale, who contradicted him yesterday, Balakrishnan issued a statement today saying there was no question of suppressing the report of the then Chief Justice of the Madras High Court (Gokhale).

The former CJI, however, did not refer to the letter written by Justice R Reghupathi, who was approached by a lawyer taking the name of Raja for securing bail to an accused in a criminal case, to Gokhale in which he had taken Raja's name.

YouTube - Former chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan denies getting any letter on Raja

The controversy has refused to die with Gokhale yesterday issuing a statement flatly contradicting Balakrishnan's claim at a press conference last week that his letter did not name Raja.

Gokhale pointed out that Reghupathi's letter was already with the CJI and in the second para of that letter, the judge had specifically mentioned Raja's name.

Today, Gokhale refused to comment on Balakrishnan's statement. "I have already made my statement," he said.

Balakrishnan said from news reports it appears that an attempt was being made to creat a wedge between high institutions of judiciary and attach motives over the allegations of a union minister having spoken to a judge to influence his judicial function, which is unfortunate.

"I am issuing this statement only with the hope that the facts will not be twisted and henceforth no motives will be attached to the judiciary," he said.

Referring to to Gokhale's statement yesterday, Balakrishnan contended that he had not said that the judge had sent an incorrect or false report to him regarding the alleged incident or suppressed any facts.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ame-was-not-mentioned/articleshow/7106336.cms

Rajneesh Madhok

 

[rajneesh madhok]

Balakrishnan's letter did not name any minister: Moily

NEW DELHI: Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today said the name of former Telecom Minister A Raja did not figure in the letter written by the former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan to him in August 2009.



"I wrote to the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Balakrishnan. He wrote us back...the name of any minister did not figure in it. That is all. There is no controversy at all. This is a matter of fact," he told reporters here.

Moily was referring to the correspondence between him and Balakrishnan after a group of MPs had submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging Raja had attempted to influence a Madras High Court judge to get bail for his family friends.

"No, I am sorry, he has not taken any name, or my name. There is nothing wrong," he said, adding that when the issue of the memorandum was referred to the Law Ministry, he had written to Balakrishnan to seek his response.

In a statement issued yesterday, Balakrishnan - who now heads the NHRC - had said that the then Chief Justice of Madras High Court H L Gokahle had not mentioned the name of any minister in his report on the alleged incident.

He had also said that he had brought the facts to the notice of the Law Minister.

"All these matters were brought to the notice of the Union Law Minister on August 18, 2009 in response to his letter to me drawing reference to the memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister by the MPs of different political parties..."

Moily had yesterday agreed that communication had taken place between him and Balakrishnan but said he would not like to make an immediate statement which is "half-baked".
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...me-any-minister-Moily/articleshow/7110982.cms

Rajneesh Madhok