Patna HC Judge highlights corruption in judiciary; cases pending before him withdrawn

Patna: An 11-judge bench of Patna High Court has took off all cases pending before their colleague after he brought up corruption in the judicial system in his order on a corruption case. The order issued by Justice Rakesh Kumar was declared "null and void under law" by the bench.

While issuing his order in a case involving a retired IAS officer KP Ramaiah, Justice Kumar had asked how the former civil servant was granted by a lower court when the Supreme Court as well as the High Court had rejected his plea for anticipatory bail owing to the gravity of the allegations.

Ramaiah is accused of embezzling over Rs. 5 crore during his tenure as the Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission chairperson.

Ramaiah had surrendered in May, but was granted bail the same day by a vacation judge of the Vigilance Court. Justice Kumar also ordered an inquiry and sought a report within four weeks.

In the order the judge also observed that it should be found out if the regular vigilance court was on leave due to a genuine reason or deliberately took leave the day Ramaiah was granted bail. He asked the Patna district court judge to inquire into the reason.

Justice Kumar also cited sting operations and allegations of corruption in the judiciary. He said there were several instances of crores of public funds being spend on bungalows of judges as well as nepotism.

However, the judge's order was taken away after they expressed anguish and said Justice Kumar had exceeeded his jurisdiction, that most of his comments were unwarranted and uncalled for.