SUB-COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITYversusUNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

                  SUB-COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
                                                                                          A
                                     v.
                          UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

                                           MAY 8, 1991

              [B.C. RAY, L.M. SHARMA, M.N. VENKATACHALIAH, J.S.                           B
                         VERMA AND S.C. AGRAWAL,JJ.)

                    Constitution of India, 1950/Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968: Article
              124(5)-Enquiry into a/legations of miscorzduct against a sitting Judge
              of Supreme Court .pertaining to conduct as Chief Justice of a High
              Court-Action of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha in admitting a notice by
              Members of Parliament and constituting an Inquiry Committee-                c
              Validity and implementation of-Application for interlocutory relillf-
              Court directing expeditious hearing of main case.

                    A Writ Petition filed by the Petitioner-Committee, a body of
              Advocates, praying for directions to be issued to the Union Government      D
              and the Chief Justice of India, in connection with the enquiry into alle-
              gations of misconduct made against a sitting Judge of the Snpreme
              Court, pertaining to his conduct as Chief Justice of a High Court,
    .
•·"'!         raised certain questions as to the validity and implementation of the
              action of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha in admitting a notice of motion
              moved by the Members of Parliament under Article 124(5) of the              E
              Constitution of India, 1950 read with Judges (Inquiry) Am, 1968,

                    Some intervention applications, opposing the Writ Petition, and
              some other Writ Petitions more or less endorsing the Government's
-             stand raising the question as to whether the motion in question survived
              the dissolution of the Lok Sabha or not, were also filed.                   F

                     Praying for interim direction, which was identical with the prayer
              In main Writ Petition, it was urged on behalf of the Petitioner-
              Committee that having regard to the dire need of maintaining public
              confidence in the institution and its reputation as apex Court, it was
              necessary that the concerned Judge should abstain from discharging          G
              judicial functions during the pendency of the enquiry, and a direction
        --~   should be issued accordingly, or pending disposal of the Writ Petition,
              the Union Government shonld be directed to afford all necessary
              facilities to the Committee for smooth and efficient functioning.

                   Directing expeditious hearing of the Writ Petition and connected       H
              matters, this Court,
                                                741
    742                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS              [1991] 2 S.C.R.

A         HELD: 1.1 Having regard to the nature and importance of the
    issues involved, it is appropriate that the main matter along with the
    connected writ petitions is heard as expeditiously as possible. Accor-
    dingly, this matter should be listed on July 9, 1991 and hearing of the
    matters proceeded with day-to-day until conclusion. [7440]

B         1.2 1n the circumstances, it is not appropriate to embark upon an
    examination of the prayer for interlocutory relief. However, 'the
    Court's disinclination to issue any interlocutory orders at this stage
    should not be construed as an expression of opinion on the merits of the
    issues either way and as an interdiction of the functioning of the Com-
    mittee, if the Committee otherwise considers appropriate to proceed
C   with the matter. [744E-F]

          ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: I.A. No. 1of1991.
                                       IN
          Writ Petition No. 491 of 1991.
D
                                     WITH
          Writ Petition Nos. 541 & 560 of 1991 etc.

          (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India).

E         G. Ramaswamy, Attorney General, Shanti Bhushan, Ashok
    Desai, Hardev Singh, Ms. Indira Jaisingh, P.S. Poti, Rajinder
    Sachhar, M.K. Ramamurty, R.K. Garg, S.K. Dholakia, Santosh
    Hegde, V.N. Ganpule, Tapas Ray, N.B. Shetye, P.P. Rao, Kapil               ....
    Sibal, D.S. Tewatia, Hari Swamp, Jayant Bhushan, Prashant
    Bhushan, Ms. Madhoo Moolchandani, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, A.K.
F   Srivastava, E.M.S. Anam, N.D. Garg, A.M. Khanwilkar and Ms.
    A. Subhashini for the Appearing Parties.

          The following Order of the Court was delivered:

          This writ petition is by a body of advocates styled "Sub-Com-
G   mittee on Judicial Accountability" and raises certain questions as to
    the validity and implementation of the action of the Speaker of the
    Lok Sab\la admitting a notice of motion moved by 108 Members of
    Parliament under Article 124(5) read with the Judges (Inquiry) Act,
    1968 and constituting an Inquiry Committee consisting of a Judge of
    the Supreme Court, Cliief Justice of a High Court and a jurist to
H   investigate into the allegations of misconduct made against a sitting
                        SUB-COMMITTEE v. U.0.1.                        743

J Udge of the Supreme Court pertaining to his conduct as the erstwhile
                                                                              A
Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

      The main prayers in the writ petition are that the Union Govern-
ment be directed to afford facilities to the Inquiry Committee to dis-
charge its constitutional and statutory functions; and for directions to
the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India to abstain from allocating any judi- B
cial work to the concerned Judge during the pendency of the proceed-
ings before the Committee. In regard to the latter prayer that notice
should go to the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, we think that aspect of
the matter should be deferred for the present and considered at the
appropriate stage of the final hearing. In regard to the directions to the
Union Government, the Union Government by means of an affidavit
subscribed to by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, has c
made manifest its stand that in its view the motion initiated by th_e 108
Members of Parliament on which the Speaker took the decision to
constitute a Committee had lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok
Sabha and that nothing further remains to be done in the matter. It is
in that view, as averred in the affidavit, that the Government of india D
did not advise the President to issue any notification as required by
Para 9 read with Para ll(b )(i), Part D of Second Schedule to the
Constitution enabling the sitting Judge of this Court and the Chief
Justice of High Court to reckon the time spent by them in functioning
as members of the Committee as part of their 'actual service'. The
contention of the petitioner is that having regard to the constitutional E
and statutory obligations of the sitting Judges who function in the
Committee, the time spent by them in performance of such function is
to be reckoned as part of their 'actual service' as judges and no notifi-
cation under the concerned provisions by the President is necessary.

      It is relevant to mention here that some of the interveners who         F
seek to oppose the writ :ietition have, in addition to their stand against
the writ petition, also filed individual writ petitions of their own in
which, more or less, they seek to endorse the stand taken by the
Government raising the question as to whether the motion survives the
dissolution of the Lok Sabha or not.
                                                                               G
      Shri Shanti Bhushan, learned counsel for the petitioner made an
impassioned plea that having regard to the dire need of maintaining
public confidence in the apex institution and its reputation it is neces-
sary that the concerned Judge should abstain from discharging judicial
functions during the pendency of the enquiry against him. In the
alternative, it is submitted that if a direction to that effect is not issued, H
      744                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS             [1991] 2 S.C.R.

 A    it should at the least necessarily be directed that pending disposal of
      the writ petition on merits, the Union of India shall afford to the
      Committee such facilities as may be necessary for its effective and
      prompt functioning. Shri Shanti Bhushan submitted that even if ulti-
      mately the writ petition fails, no loss or in jury would be caused to
      anybody and what would have resulted would only be that the eminent
 B    body of Judges would have occasion to look into the allegations
      against a sitting Judge and if they found the allegations to be baseless,
      the concerned Judge would be cleared of the imputations and cloud
      against his conduct. He urged, if such a direction or interim mandamus
      is not issued it would seriously impair the image of the Court as the
      apex Court in the country and affect the confidence of the people iJi
, c   the quality of justice dispensed by it.

            We have given our anxious consideration to the matter and
      having regard to the nature and importance of the issues involved it is
      appropriate that the main matter along with the connected writ peti-
      tions is heard as expeditiously as possible. We, therefore, direct that
 D    his matter be listed on July 9, 1991 with a direction that hearing of the
      matters be proceeded with day-to-day until conclusion. We also indi-
      cate that arguments on all sides should be completed within a period of
      ten working days and the learned counsel for all the parties and
      interveners should file their written arguments in advance latest by July
      1, 1991. The actual hearing time to each of the counsel will be
 E    apportioned at the commencement of the hearing on July 9, 1991. In
      this view of the matter, we think it appropriate not to embark upon an
      examination of the contentions in support of and the prayer for
      interlocutory relief.

            We, however, make it clear that our disinclination to issue any
 F    interlocutory orders at this stage shall not be construed as an expres-
      sion of opinion on the merits of the issues either way and shall not also
      be construed as an interdiction of the functioning of the Committee if
      the Committee otherwise considers appropriate to proceed with the
      matter.

  G        We also make it clear that during the pendency of these matters
      before this Court no proceeding pending or filed hereafter in any other
      court shall be heard or any order passed therein relating to the issues
      involved in these matters.
      NPV                                                   Petition dispose of.