Appear in court or face warrant,accused told

The ongoing trial involves the fraudulent withdrawal of the provident funds of Ghaziabad court staff,in which names of some judicial officers and sitting judges of the Allahabad High Court have figured. The six former judges are R P Mishra,R P Yadav,R N Mishra,A K Singh,R S Chaubey and Arun Kumar.

Noting the CBI’s demand for NBWs against the accused,Special CBI judge A K Singh,in his order,said,“If the judges could go to Allahabad High court from Lucknow and then visit Delhi for treatment,there is no reason why they cannot come to Ghaziabad. There are 27 accused (in the case) lodged in prison for three years… There should be no discrimination when it comes to disbursing justice. Like all (other) accused,the former judges should present in the court.”

The counsel have been directed to give an undertaking within a week,stating unconditional cooperation and personal appearance of the accused on the next date hearing,failing which warrants would be issued.

On January 13,all six judges had submitted medical certificates and demanded exemption from personal presence before the court,which were cancelled. The court had,however,reserved its decision on the exemption rom appearance.

The CBI alleged that the accused were trying to delay the proceedings through non-appearance. Nandit Srivastava,counsel for R P Mishra,A K Singh and Arun Kumar re-submitted their medical certificates on Monday,stating that Kumar is suffering form kidney infection,whereas Singh is a heart patient. R P Mishra and R S Chaubey too cited ‘old age’ as reason for non-appearance.

Meanwhile,counsel for R P Yadav Mahendra Kumar Mudgal filed an application,asking for further investigation. Srivastava said,“In the High Court and Supreme Court,the accused are represented through their lawyers on hearings. We had told the court that their absence should not be considered as disobedience. We submitted three applications — one was for exemption for today,second was for exemption from personal appearance till the framing of charges and the third was an objection to the CBI’s demand for NBWs,” added Srivastava.

After hearing the counsel,the court asked them to submit the undertaking. Srivastava then told the court that he was not authorised to submit such an undertaking without consulting his clients. The court then directed them to file the undertaking within a week’s time.