Bangalore, August 27
A showdown between the lawyers of Bangalore and Supreme Court Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan was averted following the decision of the SC judges yesterday to declare their assets for public scrutiny.
The Advocates Association, Bangalore (AAB), an apex body of the lawyers in the city, had on Tuesday convened an emergency general body meeting to be held today to discuss the recent spat between the Chief Justice of India, Justice KG Balakrishnan and Karnataka High Court judge, Justice D V Shylendra Kumar.
In a newspaper article, Shylendra Kumar had criticised Balakrishnan for opposing the declaration of assets by judges of superior courts. As a response to the article, Balakrishnan had said that Kumar wanted for publicity for himself.
The AAB meeting was to discuss “personal remarks” by Justice Balakrishnan against Justice Kumar.
The advocates’ body was also contemplating filing a petition in the court challenging the SC Chief Justice’s stance.
The meeting, which was to take place this afternoon in the high court premises here, however, was cancelled in the wake of the decision taken in a meeting of the SC judges in Delhi yesterday. “We have decided against holding the meeting in view of the decision of the SC judges to make available the details of their assets on the SC website”, Rajanna, AAB general secretary, told The Tribune.
Shylendra Kumar himself declared his movable and immovable property to the Registrar General of the high court here on Monday. Despite Kumar’s request to the Registrar General to make his declaration public, the high court refrained from displaying the declaration on its website. This prompted Kumar to post the declaration on his blog.
The declaration showed Kumar has cash, certificates and deposits worth about Rs 20 lakh, besides a Zen car (purchased with bank finance), two properties in Bangalore and agricultural lands measuring more than 11 acres. Kumar also owns shares in 18 companies.
However, the value of his shares in only three companies was mentioned in the declaration.
