Justice (Retd) Patnaik to hold inquiry; Justice Ramana recuses from hearing
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday constituted a one-person panel of former apex court judge Justice A K Patnaik to hold an inquiry into the allegations of a bigger conspiracy to frame Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogi and fixing of benches in the top court.
The apex court asked the Directors of CBI and IB as also the Delhi Police Commissioner to cooperate with Justice (Retd) Patnaik as and when sought by him during the inquiry.
It said however that the inquiry by Justice (Retd) Patnaik would not deal with the allegations of sexual harassment against the CJI, levelled by an ex-employee of the top court.
It said the outcome of the inquiry would not affect the in-house committee which is dealing with the complaint against the CJI.
The apex court said that on the completion of the inquiry, Justice (Retd) Patnaik would file a report in a sealed cover before the court after which the matter will be heard again.
It left it to the panel to take the assistance of the people required for the inquiry.
In the order, a special bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said: "Considering the factual gamut and the affidavits filed by advocate Utsav Singh Bains, we are appointing Justice A K Patnaik, retired judge of this court, to hold an inquiry into the allegations levelled in the affidavit filed by Bains."
The bench, also comprising Justices R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta, clarified that he "would not deal with the allegations of misbehaviour by the CJI".
The Supreme Court earlier on Thursday expressed anguish over the "systematic attack" on the judiciary and said the time has come to tell the rich and powerful of this country that they are "playing with fire".
The apex court made this observation while hearing claims made by Bains that there was a greater conspiracy to frame the CJI on allegations of sexual harassment.
The bench said, "The way this institution is treated in last few years we must say that we will not survive if this will happen.
Earlier on Thursday, Justice Indu Malhotra replaced Justice NV Ramana, who withdrew from the three-member Supreme Court panel that will look into the sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
She was a member of the Vishakha Committee which drew up the guidelines to be followed in case of sexual harassment in workplaces across the country.
Justice Ramana stepped down following objections from the woman who had complained against the Chief Justice.
In a letter to the top court Wednesday, the woman had said Justice Ramana was a close family friend of the Chief Justice.
She had also asked for the inclusion of more women judges in the panel.
In his letter to the top court recusing himself, Justice Ramana said, "I categorically reject these baseless and unfounded aspersions on my capacity to render impartial judgment in this matter."
The three-member panel was formed on Tuesday after a meeting of the full court, attended by all judges except the Chief Justice. Justice SA Bobde - next in seniority to Justice Gogoi - had initially chosen the two other judges in the panel. The third judge is Indira Banerjee.
The complainant - a former employee of the top court - had made the allegations against the Chief Justice in an affidavit sent to several judges last week.
Chief Justice Gogoi has denied the allegations, saying he was being targeted as he has several urgent cases coming up.
Alleging a conspiracy, he said, "There has to be a bigger force behind this, they want to deactivate office of Chief Justice". The independence of the judiciary is "under threat", and it was being made a "scapegoat" he had said.
