Former CJI was adamant on elevating corrupt judge: Katju

Katju said he told Justice Kapadia that the said judge had a "very bad reputation"

Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju Monday again complained of interferences in the appointment of judges, saying former chief justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan tried his best to elevate a judge to the apex court despite allegations of corruption against him.

Katju said in his blog post that he told Justice Kapadia that the said judge had a "very bad reputation about his integrity".

"I told Justice Kapadia that a chief justice of a high court, who had earlier been a judge of the Madras High Court, had a very bad reputation about his integrity," Katju wrote in his blog.

"I knew this because I had been the chief justice in Madras High Court," Katju said.

He said although Kapadia thanked him for the information, the Collegium of the Supreme Court, of which Kapadia was a member, recommended the judge's name to then CJI Balakrishnan.

Katju alleged that Balakrishnan was adamant that the judge should become a Supreme Court judge.

"Kapadia said that he remembered that I had warned him a year earlier, but Balakrishnan, the then CJI, was adamant on elevating this corrupt judge, saying that he (Balakrishnan) was earlier a chief justice of Madras High Court and knew that the allegations of corruption about him were untrue," Katju said.