The Home Ministry headed by P Chidambaram has written to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), under the Finance Ministry, seeking information about the assets owned by former chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan and his dependents and relatives.
The move has come after the Law Ministry said that since the allegations against KG Balakrishan being investigated by the Home Ministry relate to under-declaration of income and assets, the opinion of the CBDT be sought.
The CBDT has wide-ranging investigative powers and is in charge of unearthing hidden money and tracking down illicit fund-flows.
The move has come as yet another set back for KG Balakrishnan or KGB who has been beset with controversies as soon as he stepped down from the position of head of India’s judiciary last year. Among his biggest judgments during his tenure is the Ambani gas dispute.
Questions were raised about KGB after Kerala TV channels unearthed huge assets built up by his son in law and Youth Congress leader PV Sreenijan during the two year tenure of KGB at the helm of India’s judiciary.
Just last week, Justice P.K. Shamsuddin, a former Kerala High Court Judge who once served with KGB, alleged that he was approached by a man in Bangalore who requested him to facilitate an introduction to Justice Balakrishnan’s son or son-in-law in connection with a case in the Supreme Court.
“Till then I did not know that K.G. Balakrishnan was approachable,” the retired Kerala Judge said, setting off yet another controversy for Balakrishnan, who was immediately appointed the chief of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) upon his retirement last year.
He has denied all the allegations, calling his detractors as agents of vested interest. Justice Shamsuddin had called for Balakrishnan’s resignation as well.