Government to Supreme Court: Ex-CJI K G Balakrishnan cleared by I-T of graft charges

NEW DELHI: The income tax department has given a clean chit to former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and his family members for allegedly amassing disproportionate and benami assets during his tenure at the Supreme Court.

Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi told a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh that the income tax department had conducted a probe and assessed the properties of family members of Balakrishnan but it failed to find any evidence of disproportionate assets against them.

“We did not find any material to show that he or his relatives possess benami properties. We have done the probe and found no proof. Income tax assessment of the relatives’ assets has been done. Some of the properties were undervalued by them but they have now paid taxes as per market value. We cannot have roving inquiry against them,” the attorney general said.

The government response came after the apex court in last hearing favoured I-T probe against Balakrishnan’s daughter, son-in-law and brother for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets during his tenure as a judge and as CJI and sought assistance from the attorney general on how to proceed in the case.

Rohatgi told the bench, the I-T probe has already been done and the allegation against Balakrishnan for holding benami properties on the name of his relatives is baseless. He said that no further inquiry by CBI or any other agency is required in the case.

The attorney general said the court should not entertain PILs making false allegations as it damages the reputation of the person and pointed out that similar unfounded allegations of corruption was made against another former CJI who died recently.

The bench however said that the court should not shy away from looking into such allegations and it would dismiss the petitions if the family members assets are not disproportionate to known source of their incomes.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by an NGO Common Cause alleging that properties worth of crores of rupees were purchased by family members of Balakrishnan during his tenure at the Supreme Court. The petition filed in 2013 also sought removal of Balakrishnan as chairman of National Human Rights Commission, but he retired from the commission in May this year.

The NGO contended that 21 properties were purchased by Balakrishnan’s family members whose source of income was limited. It also placed sale deeds of those properties before the court. “This amassing of wealth beyond their known source by the kin of Balakrishnan during his tenure as Judge/ CJI clearly indicates that this wealth was given to these people as illegal gratification to him,” it said.

It also referred to media reports quoting director general of I­T (investigation) who said that three of Balakrishnan's kin were found to possess “black money”.

Refuting the allegation, Mukul Rohatgi told the bench that the government would place before the court the probe report on the next date of hearing on January 19 to substantiate his point.