The Hindu : National : Former High Court Judge asked to vacate residence

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Saturday, Mar 11, 2006

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National

Former High Court Judge asked to vacate residence

Legal Correspondent

Jyoti Basu allotted land under his discretionary quota

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the former Calcutta High Court Judge, B.P. Banerjee, to vacate his Salt Lake City residence. The land was allotted by the then Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, under his discretionary quota by accepting Rs 30.15 lakhs as construction expenses for the already-auctioned house. A Bench of Justice H.K. Sema and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan asked Justice Banerjee to accept the amount without any demur and vacate the house within a week of the receipt of money, failing which the Government would initiate eviction proceedings against him.

The apex court in November 2004 cancelled the allotment of a plot made to Justice Banerjee in 1987 and ordered public auction of the house constructed by him on it. Justice Banerjee in an interim application challenged the auction on the ground that it was not done properly.

Rejecting his application, the Bench deprecated the filing of such applications and described it as an attempt to circumvent its order. The Bench also directed the Registry not to accept any such interim applications without its prior permission.

The apex court, while cancelling the allotment, had said: "Justice Banerjee has misused his divine judicial duty as liveries to accomplish his personal ends. He has betrayed the trust reposed on him by the people. To say the least, this is bad. There is nothing wrong in a Judge to have ambition to achieve something, but if the ambition to achieve is likely to cause compromise with his divine judicial duty, better not to pursue it."

The court had said the proceeds of the auctioned house sold in public auction should be given to the Judge.

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