New Delhi: “Today’s news says that the previous government, the DMK party, interfered in the appointment of the Madras high court judge. Therefore, I would like to ask the law minister to probe this serious matter and see as to what has happened actually. The House should know who is that judge? Who were in the DMK party to pressurise the previous government?” Mr Thambidurai said, raising the issue in zero hour.
The AIADMK leader quoted Mr Katju as saying that the DMK minister went to the airport and told the former Prime Minister (Dr Manmohan Singh) that his government would fall. At this point, Congress members objected to Mr Thambidurai’s naming of the former PM and raised a point of order.
To this, the Speaker said point of order cannot be raised during the zero hour, as she has not allowed a discussion on the issue. The AIADMK MP also demanded that the law minister respond to charges by Mr Katju and order an inquiry into the issue. He termed the charges made by Mr Katju were of “very serious” nature it puts a question mark on independence of judiciary.
“Let the law minister to reply to that. It is a serious matter,” Mr Thambidurai said. However, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan refused his demand and said: “Thambiduraiji, I am sorry. Again I am saying, I cannot compel the government to say anything like this in the zero hour. You have raised your matter; I have allowed you. I am sorry; No.”
In his article, Justice Katju had alleged that three ex-Chief Justices of India made “improper compromises” during the UPA rule in allowing a judge in Tamil Nadu under corruption cloud to continue in office.
Katju alleged that the three former chief justices of India — Justices R.C. Lahoti, Y.K. Sabharwal and K.G. Balakrishnan — made “improper compromises” and “succumbed to political pressure” in allowing the judge to continue. However, Justice Balakrishnan rejected the allegations as “completely baseless and not factually correct.”
