NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday created space for a “fair debate” on the contentious issue of anti-corruption watchdog Lokpal assuming jurisdiction to inquire into allegations of taint against high court judges even though the apex court had formed a prima facie view that this would be “dangerous” for independence of constitutional courts. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta protested strongly against Lokpal assuming jurisdiction over high court judges and told a bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant and A S Oka that the Jan 27 order of the full bench led by Lokpal A M Khanwilkar, attempting to assume inquiry jurisdiction over HC judges, went against the procedure established through SC judgments for dealing with complaints against con stitutional court judges. The bench agreed and said the field was already occupied and a mechanism was in place to deal with complaints against SC and HC judges.
Mehta said the Supreme Court should examine only Section 14(1)(f) of Lokpal Act, which formed the basis for Lokpal’s Jan 27 order. Supreme Court Bar Association president and senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the SC, in its 1991 judgment in the Veeraswami case, had made it mandatory to obtain the CJI’s consent before initiation of proceedings against a constitutional court judge. “The law must be clarified to ensure that complaints of this nature (corruption and misuse of office) are forwarded only to the CJI and not to any other authority,” he said.
Lokpal’s order ha.