Wednesday, March 16 2005 15:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government today (Mar 16, 2005) said that it would not allow anybody to "browbeat" the judiciary and will welcome a judicial enquiry into overture to a Supreme Court judge for change of a Patna trial court judge probing the fodder scam in which Railway Minister Laloo Prasad is an accused.

"We will welcome an open enquiry, judicial enquiry into the matter. Nobody should be allowed to browbeat the judiciary this side or that side," Law Minister H R Bhardwaj told the Rajya Sabha.

He was responding to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Balbir Punj who wanted to know what the Government was doing to news reports that a Supreme Court judge was approached by "someone from the High Court" at Patna for changing the trial judge hearing the multi-crore fodder scam case.

Justice S N Variava had said yesterday (Mar 15, 2005), "Some one contacted me from the High Court and indirectly wanted to know whether the trial judge can be changed."

Bhardwaj said that though he did not have the correct record, it was a "serious matter" and assured the House that "anybody who tends to interfere in the judicial proceedings, more so when it is before the Apex Court, will be dealt with severely".

As Opposition members protested over the inclusion of "tainted' Ministers in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, they were countered by ruling party benches, particularly Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members, leading to a brief spell of noisy scenes.