By summoning the entire records pertaining to the infamous judge bribery case,the Punjab and Haryana High Court had on September 13 put brakes on the trial involving Justice (retd) Nirmal Yadav. In a significant development,the High Court,on the administrative side,returned all the records to the special CBI Court,Chandigarh earlier this week. The special court has been instructed to make photocopies of all the papers and send it to the high court. But the original records will remain with the CBI court,according to a fax sent by the high court two days back. The entire document,a total of 7,220 pages,has been received by the CBI court,Chandigarh. This development assumes significance as in absence of the records,the special court could not have proceeded with the trial even if it wanted to. Justice N K Sanghi had on September 13 admitted a revision petition filed by Justice Yadav and summoned the entire trial court records. This had brought the trial to a halt. It might be clarified here that though Justice Sanghi had admitted the revision petition stating that the matter requires thorough consideration,no stay was ordered on the trial pending in the CBI court. The trial,however,had virtually come to a stay as the high court had summoned the entire records. The same has now been returned to the CBI court. The case will come up for resumed hearing on November 11 in the court of special CBI Judge Vimal Kumar. Now that the records have been returned and there is no stay order on the trial by a superior court,the CBI court,according to legal experts,is empowered to frame charges against Justice Yadav. Requesting anonymity,a senior high court lawyer told The Indian Express,With the high court returning the original record,the CBI court has no option but to commence with the trial. For,there is no stay ordered on the trial by the high court. In fact,Section 19 (3) of the Prevention of Corruption Act bars any court of law from ordering stay on a trial in a corruption case. The special CBI Judge is fully empowered to proceed with the trial. Another legal luminary,when contacted,said,since there is no stay,the trial court can proceed. However,since a revision petition is pending in the high court,the fate of trial court proceedings may be subject to final outcome of the decision of the high court. Two years after the CBI filed a chargesheet (March 3,2011) against Yadav,the CBI court had decided to frame charges against Yadav and other accused. However,even before the CBI court could frame charges against her,the former Punjab and Haryana high court judge filed a revision petition in the High Court demanding quashing of trial courts orders. Justice Sanghi had admitted the revision petition filed by Yadav ordering that it be heard within three months. In a 63-page judgment - first reported by The Indian Express - special CBI Judge Vimal Kumar,had rejected the defence taken by Yadav and co-accused as untenable and ruled on July 31 that there is overwhelming evidence against Yadav and other accused in the scam. The CBI court had pointed out the direct contradictions between the statements of Justice Yadav and other accused. The infamous cash at judges door scam came to light on August 13,2008 when Rs 15 lakhs was wrongly delivered at the residence of another high court judge who had called the Chandigarh Police and got the packet seized.
