New Delhi: A three-judge Committee formed to probe the cash-at-judge door scam in Chandigarh has submitted its report to the chief justice of India K G Balakrishnan.

A Committee comprising Justice Hemant Lakshman Gokhle (chief justice of Allahabad High Court), justice K S Radhakrishnan (Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court) and justice Madan B Lokur (Delhi High Court) submitted the report after holding the inquiry for three-and-a-half months.

The scam came to light in August this year when Rs. 15 lakh was taken by the clerk of a senior Haryana law officer to the residence of a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court justice Nirmaljit Singh Kaur.

Later it turned out that the money was meant for another judge.

Justice Nirmal Yadav of the Punjab and Haryana High Court later recused from judicial work after her name surfaced during the interrogation of the three accused in connection with the case. She is now on leave.

Subsequently, Punjab Governor S F R Rodrigues, who is also Chandigarh Administrator general, recommended a CBI probe into the scam after consultations with High Court chief justice Tirath Singh Thakur.

The CJI had constituted the committee comprising of two chief justices and a judge of the High Court, as he felt that deeper probe was needed into the alleged scam.

The CJI, on the basis of the report, can ask the judge concerned to resign or withdraw judicial work and recommend to prime minister and president for impeachment.

On August 13,the clerk of the then additional advocate general of Haryana, Sanjiv Bansal, had delivered Rs 15 lakh at the residence of justice Nirmaljit Kaur, who had immediately informed the Chandigarh Police.

Bansal later resigned as additional advocate general and a case under Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against the clerk, Parkash Chand and Rajiv Gupta, a property dealer.

Later, the main accused Ravinder Singh, a hotelier, surrendered.

Bansal had claimed that the money was to be delivered at the residence of a property dealer Nirmal Singh on behalf of Ravinder Singh in connection with a property deal but the cash was wrongly delivered at the residence of a judge.
Source : DNA