Ghosts of graft re-surface against K.G Balakrishnan

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Nikhil Menon

23 June, 2011

Former Chief Justice of India and present NHRC chief K.G Balakrishnan found himself in a soup when charges of graft re surfaced against him based on a letter written by Home Minister P. Chidambaram to the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

HOME MINISTER P. Chidambaram wrote to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday seeking information about the assets owned by the former Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan. The CBDT, an arm of the finance ministry was also asked in the letter to give out details about the assets owned by Balakrishnan’s immediate relatives and dependents.

The move was initiated after the Law Ministry sought CBDT’s intervention as charges of graft surfaced against the former Chief Justice, who now heads the National Human Rights Commission. With its investigative powers, the CBDT also takes charge of the hidden money and keeps a tight vigil on the fund misappropriation in the country.

The letter from Chidambaram has come as a direct assault on KGB (as he is known amongst his peer groups) as soon as he stepped down from being the country’s head judiciary in 2010. Pressure rose for KGB when local news channels across Kerala lifted the lids off the assets built by his son and Youth Congress leader PV Sreenijan. It was hugely anticipated that illicit assets were built during KGB was helming India’s judiciary.

However, more trouble brewed for the NHRC chief when last week his colleague and former Kerala High Court Judge P.K. Shamsuddin said that the latter was approached by a man in Bangalore who sought introduction with KGB’s son in connection with a pending case in the Supreme Court.