New Delhi: Close on the heels of Mysore and Jaipur sleaze allegations against High Court judges, the conduct of a Supreme Court judge may come under the apex court scanner following charges that he attempted to protect a bureaucrat friend accused of sexual misdemeanour.

While deciding on January 17 to hear the petition filed by Mohini Dhar Pattanaik, a Bench of justice S Rajendra Babu and justice G P Mathur has appointed former solicitor general T R Andhyarujina as amicus curiae to assist the court in the case.

The petition has sought setting up of a permanent commission to receive complaints against sitting judges of the superior judiciary, even as it accused a sitting judge of the apex court of influencing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into a sex scandal in Orissa when he was a High Court judge there.

The apex court decision comes in the wake of two inquiries already initiated by former Chief Justice of India G B Pattanaik and pending against judges of the High Courts of Karnataka and Rajasthan.

The petition by Mohini Dhar Pattanaik alleged that after the Balasore sex scandal rocked Orissa in 1999, a petition was filed in the High Court. The sitting Judge of the Supreme Court, who was then a Judge there, closed the proceedings.

Another Bench of the High Court reopened the case in April 2000 and directed CBI to investigate the scandal by a team of officers headed by a person not below the rank of deputy inspector general (DIG).

The petitioner alleged that the judge had closed the proceedings of the case as a bureaucrat closely known to him was involved in the scandal.

The petitioner alleged victim Harapriya Barik gave a statement before the police that she was forced to file an affidavit in the High Court denying the sex scandal, which led to the closure of the proceedings.

She was allegedly taken to the chamber of the judge in question in Orissa High Court and forced to sign certain papers in the presence of two lawyers, which were handed over to the judge, the petition said.

The petitioner, while alleging misconduct against the sitting judge of the Supreme Court, also recounted that he, as a judge of the Orissa High Court, had also directed the media not to report about the proceedings in a case involving the same bureaucrat and relating to murder of a 'Harijan' girl.

Stating that the recent spate of allegations against the conduct of judges of the higher judiciary was slowly eroding the confidence of citizens in the judiciary, the petitioner sought a direction for establishment of a "permanent commission of inquiry or any other appropriate body to receive complaints regarding misconduct of presiding judges of the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts in various states".

While seeking inquiry into the sitting judges' conduct in handling the Balasore sex scandal case, the petitioner requested the Supreme Court to direct the Orissa government and CBI to take action against the accused persons involved in the scandal.

PTI