Supreme Court stays Lokpal order on complaints against sitting HC judge
The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended the Lokpal’s January 27 order, which held that India’s anti-corruption ombudsman could probe complaints against high court judges, calling the anti-corruption authority’s interpretation of its own jurisdiction “very disturbing”.
A special bench, comprising justices Bhushan R Gavai, Surya Kant and Abhay S Oka, expressed a prima facie view that high court judges would not come under the purview of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, since their appointment is governed by the Constitution and that they are not like any other “public servant” functioning in an organisation established by a parliamentary law.
Issuing notices to the Union government and the office of the Lokpal, the bench also restrained the complainant before the Lokpal from disclosing the name of a high court judge against whom accusations of influencing an additional district judge and another high court judge in a pending case were levelled.
The court signalled its strong disapproval of the ombudsman’s stance in entertaining two complaints against the sitting high court judge, observing: “This is something very disturbing… We propose to issue notice to the Union government.”
Interestingly, the January order was passed by a full bench of the Lokpal led by justice AM Khanwilkar, a retired Supreme Court judge.