There is a question mark over the proposed elevation of Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Allahabad High Court as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court with President A P J Abdul Kalam said to have returned the file on his appointment to the Law Ministry for further clarification.

Sources said the Law Ministry is expected to forward the file to the Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan. Justice Bhalla’s elevation was cleared by the previous collegium headed by then Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal.

The controversy around Justice Bhalla involves his wife’s purchase of property in Noida. On his last day in office, Justice Sabharwal, at a press conference, said that Justice Bhalla’s wife was alleged to have bought property worth Rs 2 lakh while the value was in crores. Justice Sabharwal, however, defended Justice Bhalla citing the opinion of the local Bar in support of the judge.

“I was shown several documents and papers pointing a higher value so that people can get more compensation, so here I was faced with a Bar talking in one voice about Justice Bhalla and a few lawyers in Delhi against him,” Sabharwal had said. “No Bar would favour a corrupt judge so the best barometer is the local Bar,” Justice Sabharwal said.

In the last week of December, the two presiding officers of Parliament, Lok Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, too, had received representations made by SC lawyer Shanti Bhushan against Justice Bhalla. Shekhawat forwarded the note to Justice Sabharwal asking the Chief Justice to “take note” of the issue and left it to him to initiate “appropriate action.” Chatterjee, in his letter to Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj, sought an “early response” to the allegations so that he could decide whether to discuss the issue with political parties.

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