2 min readNew DelhiJun 4, 2011 01:23 AM IST
First published on: Jun 4, 2011 at 01:23 AM IST
If Anna Hazare has former Supreme Court judge and current Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde retd by his side to thrash out weighty legal issues,the latest entrant to the activist street,Yog Guru Baba Ramdev,has another retired judge former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge and current Haryana Lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal retd as his chief legal counsel.
However,unlike Hegde,whose relationship with Anna Hazare is relatively newer,Pritam Pals relationship with Baba Ramdev dates back to the late 90s,when Pal was still an additional District and Sessions Judge.
He was appointed Haryana Lokayukta on January 17 this year by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.
Last year,the Baba held a yoga camp for women lawyers at the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the request of the judge. The same evening,he gave health tips at the residence of Justice Pal the then President of the State Consumer Commission,Chandigarh to over two dozen serving and retired judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Recalls a sitting judge of the High Court,who attended the camp,That Baba had special regard for Justice Pritam Pal was visible. Today,when I heard that he had taken Justice Pritam Pal to the meeting with the ministers to discuss the demands,I was not surprised. Baba possibly trusts him so much because Justice Pal is himself a deeply religious man,who was known for his integrity as a judge.
Another significant difference between Hegde and Pal is their approach to the inclusion of the Prime Minister and higher judiciary in the ambit of the proposed Lokpal Bill.
While Hegde has unequivocally supported the demand of his other team members in the Lokpal Bill drafting committee that actions of both Prime Minister and higher judiciary should be open to scrutiny by the Lokpal,Pritam Pal wants wider debate on the important issue.
His view is that the office of Prime Minister and higher judiciary should not be treated lightly and any decision whether to include them or not in the proposed Bill should be taken only after studying all pros and cons.
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