Do the rich and powerful think that they can remote control us, asks SC

Court forms one-man committee of Justice A K Pattnaik to probe affidavit details, asks CBI, IB, Delhi Police commissioner to help

Expressing deep anguish over the way the Supreme Court had been treated over the past 3-4 years, a three-judge bench of the apex court, which is looking into allegations larger conspiracy against the Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s office, on Thursday observed that “rich and powerful people of the country had been trying to run the Supreme Court”, adding that by doing so, they were "playing with fire".

“The way this institution is treated in last few years we must say that we will not survive if this will happen. Do the rich and powerful of this country think that they can remote control the Supreme Court? People should know the truth. This is going on and this has to stop,” Justice Arun Mishra said.

To get to the root of the matter, the three-judge Bench led by Justice Mishra on Thursday ordered that former Supreme Court judge Justice A K Pattnaik, assisted by the heads of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), as well as, the Commissioner of Police, Delhi look into the allegations of larger conspiracy against the Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s office as mentioned in lawyer Utsav Bains’ affidavit.

Advocate Utsav Bains, appearing in person, had filed an affidavit claiming that he had been approached by certain people to frame CJI Gogoi in an alleged sexual harassment case. The advocate also claimed that he was offered Rs 1.5 crore by a person named Ajay to represent the top court’s former woman employee who has accused CJI of harassing her.

Apart from this, in his affidavit, Bains said that two former disgruntled employees of the top court, who had been fired recently, were also involved in the conspiracy to frame the CJI. The claims were made by Bains after an unprecedented hearing at the top on court during which Gogoi said that the allegations of sexual harassment against him were part of a larger conspiracy to “deactivate” the office of the CJI, and that he would “not stoop so low even to deny them”.

This bench was assembled on Saturday after a former female employee of the apex court sent a detailed affidavit to the residences of 22 judges, giving details of the alleged harassment.

The three-judge bench, which includes Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice Deepak Gupta, said that Justice Pattnaik will be free to take any assistance from anyone else as and when he needs it. The court will next hear the matter after the report by Justice Pattnaik is submitted in a sealed cover, the top court said.

Although Bains said that there were certain aspects of his interactions with the alleged fixers that he could not reveal and claimed privilege, the top court on Thursday rejected this argument and said that “that no such privilege can be claimed in respect of such communication”.

“The ground raised by Utsav Singh Bains as to privilege is wholly unsustainable. He is bound to disclose the information as may be required,” the three-judge Bench said. The case will be next heard after Justice Pattnaik submits his report to the top court," it said.