3 judge postings en route to Kalam

Shortly after he raised objections to the Government on the appointment of Justice Virender Jain as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, another set of judicial appointments is on its way for President A P J Abdul Kalam8217;s clearance.

Shortly after he raised objections to the Government on the appointment of Justice Virender Jain as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, another set of judicial appointments is on its way for President A P J Abdul Kalam8217;s clearance.

The Law Ministry has routed two appointment files to the PMO last week, en route to Rashtrapati Bhavan. One is the proposed elevation of Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Allahabad High Court as Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.

Significantly, Justice Sabharwal, in his pre-retirement press conference, had defended Justice Bhalla in the controversy around his wife8217;s purchase of properties. It was alleged that the purchase had been shown as undervalued.

Justice Sabharwal had cited the opinion of the Lucknow Bar recalling how several senior lawyers had met him. 8220;I was shown documents and papers pointing to a higher value so that people can get more compensation, so here I was faced with a Bar talking in one voice about Justice Bhalla and few lawyers in Delhi against him,8221; Justice Sabharwal had said admitting that he went with the Bar8217;s opinion. 8220;No Bar would favour a corrupt Judge, so the best barometer is the local Bar,8221; Justice Sabharwal had said.

The other file now with the PMO relates to the confirmation of Additional Judge Justice S Ashok Kumar of the Chennai High Court after convening a new collegium. Justice Kumar has been given two extensions. When the last extension was given, Justice Sabharwal and President Kalam had noted on file that it his extension should not be beyond a period of six months, which ends on February 3.

The new Chief Justice, Justice K G Balakrishnan, approved the elevation of Justice Kumar with a one-year extension of his term. The third file already cleared by the PMO and sent to Kalam deals with the confirmation of the appointment of Justice SL Bhayana, who had given the controversial acquittal order in the Jessica Lal case.

Justice Bhayana was appointed Additional Judge on February 28, 2006 following which the Delhi HC had passed strictures and reversed his Sessions court judgment. This was approved by Justice Sabharwal before his retirement.