CHENNAI: A Madras High Court judge has recused himself from hearing a case after allegations were raised against a senior counsel, representing the petitioners, that he had taken Rs 50 lakh from his client on the pretext of bribing the judge for securing favourable orders.
The issue involves 2015 criminal revision petitions filed by N Ganesh Agarwal of NSC Bose Road, Chennai, and his father Naresh Prasad Agarwal praying for the court to quash a 2014 order of the XII Additional Special Court for CBI Cases in Chennai refusing to discharge them from a cheating case involving gold trading.
When the case came up for hearing on February 5, the judge informed that the Registry of the court had received a communication from the Ministry of Law and Justice along with an annexure of a representation made by the All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ).
The representation has alleged that the senior counsel had taken Rs 50 lakh from the client for bribing the judge for getting favourable orders, but no order has yet been passed.
Senior counsel Murali Kumaran submitted that the allegations contained in the representation are “totally false” and he is “ready to cooperate with any kind of inquiry”, the judge noted.
The special public prosecutor for CBI, K Srinivasan, submitted that such types of representations should not be entertained and they affect the dignity of the court. Therefore, stern steps shall be initiated to find the person behind the “false” representation and take appropriate action.
“In view of specific allegations contained in the representation given by AILAJ, Chennai, this court finds that it is appropriate that the issue be referred to the Vigilance Cell of the Madras High Court,” Justice Nirmal Kumar said.
Stating that he is not inclined to hear the case, he placed the matter before the Chief Justice for action. “It is appropriate that the matter is placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for posting before an appropriate bench and also to issue appropriate directions to the Vigilance Cell to conduct inquiry and to take appropriate action in this regard,” he said in the order.
The CBI’s case against Ganesh Agarwal and his father NP Agarwal, proprietor of Shiv Sahai and Sons, is over cheating MMTC Limited, Chennai, of Rs 113.32 crore by speculating in Indian rupee-US Dollar foreign exchange fluctuation and intentionally omitting to take forward cover for the purchases made under the buyer’s credit scheme in respect of gold trading.