SC to examine Lokpal’s jurisdiction over HC judges

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would examine the issue over the jurisdiction of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal in entertaining complaints against sitting high court judges. A three-judge special bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Abhay S Oka was dealing with a suo motu proceeding initiated over the Lokpal’s January 27 order on the issue. While posting the hearing on April 15, the bench asked senior advocate Ranjit Kumar to assist it as an amicus curiae in the matter.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the limited point was whether the Lokpal had jurisdiction. “We will only consider the issue with regard to jurisdiction under the Lokpal Act,” Justice Gavai said. The top court on February 20 stayed the Lokpal’s order, saying it was “something very, very disturbing” and concerned the independence of the judiciary. It then issued notices and sought responses from the Centre, the Lokpal registrar and the complainant.

Mehta previously said that a high court judge would never fall within the ambit of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. The Lokpal had passed the order on two complaints filed against a sitting additional judge of a high court.

On Tuesday, the complainant appeared before the apex court and said he had filed an affidavit in support of his submissions. “I want the honour of the Lokpal and also the judiciary to be uplifted,” he said. The bench asked the complainant whether he would engage a legal aid lawyer. The complainant refused any legal assistance and said his submissions were already mentioned in the affidavit. Pointing out a substantial question of law in the matter, Mehta said, “In my view, only one section of the Lokpal Act is to be examined.”

When the bench said a counter affidavit was filed by the registrar of Lokpal, Mehta said it was almost a “reiteration of the order”.

There was already a mechanism in place to deal with complaints against judges, the bench observed. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is also assisting the court, said, “The fundamental issue will be, can a complaint be ever filed outside the remit of the constitutional authority.” Kumar, the bench said, would go through the complainant’s submissions and other materials to have a holistic view of the matter before it decided the issue.