Updated: September 15, 2020 10:55:11 am
The list includes Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Supreme Court Justice AM Khanwilkar, Rajasthan High Court Justice Sandeep Mehta and Allahabad High Court Justice Sunita Agarwal.
From a judge leading a panel investigating the murder of a BJP lawmaker by Maoists in Chhattisgarh to India’s first anti-corruption ombudsman appointed by Narendra Modi’s government, the Overseas Key Information DataBase (OKIDB) developed by Zhenhua Factsand investigated by The Indian Express, is monitoring 30 judges, including the current Chief Justice of India, another Supreme Court justice, three acting judges from the higher judiciary and four retired Supreme Court justices who currently hold key positions in various capacities.
The list includes Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Supreme Court Justice AM Khanwilkar, Rajasthan High Court Justice Sandeep Mehta and Allahabad High Court Justice Sunita Agarwal.
It also includes judges who have retired from the SC and currently hold key positions: Judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose, President of Lokpal; Judge Shiva Kirti Singh, President of the Telecommunications Court of Appeal and Dispute Resolution (TDSAT); Judge Vikramajit Sen, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Bombay Stock Exchange and Judge Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, Chairman of the Press Council of India.
Also on the list are the former Chairman of the Intellectual Property Appeals Board, Judge K Basha (IPAB) and Judge S Usha, former IPAB Vice President.
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The list examined by The Indian Express includes two judges who head separate panels to investigate incidents involving the left: Judge Satish Agnihotri, former CJ of Sikkim HC, heads a judicial commission established by Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel in August. of 2019 to investigate the Naxal Attack on Dantewada in April 2019 that killed BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four members of security personnel.
And Judge Amitava Lala, former Acting CJ of Allahabad HC, heads a one-man commission appointed by West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee in March 2012 to investigate the 1982 massacre of 16 monks and one sannyasin from the Ananda Marg. So far he has summoned several top left leaders.
Former South Carolina judges, Judges PK Balasubramanyan and Arijit Pasayat, who have also served as chairmen of the Authority for Advance Resolution (AAR), which makes binding rulings on advance tax matters related to a foreign investment firm in India, They are on the monitored list. A scrutiny of the data further shows that two other AP Chief Judges Shah (Delhi) and Mohit Shah (Bombay), indirectly connected to the same issue arising from the AAR, were also monitored.
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In 2012, Judge Balasubramanyan, head of the AAR, had ruled in favor of the alternative minimum tax (MAT) applied to Castleton Investment, a company based in Mauritius. In 2014, the IT department had sent notices to several foreign portfolio investors seeking MAT; Following the uproar among foreign investors, then-Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had set up a panel headed by Judge AP Shah, who recommended that MAT will not apply to FII / FPI that do not have a permanent place of business / establishment in India. At the same time, in the Bombay High Court, a court headed by CJ Mohit Shah heard a case on a similar MAT matter involving the Luxembourg investor Aberdeen Asset Management.
The list includes those who have served on human rights panels: former SC Cyriac Joseph judges, Shivraj Virupanna Patil, Sujata Manohar, all of whom served on the NHRC; Bilal Nazki, former CJ of Orissa HC and former president of the Human Rights Commission of J&K; Sujit Roy, former CJ of Orissa HC and former President of the Assam Human Rights Commission; and Prakash Tatia, former CJ Jharkhand and former president of the Armed Forces Tribunal.
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The list also includes: former CJI judge RM Lodha, who headed a committee set up by the SC to suggest reforms within the BCCI; Former SC judge, Judge Ganpat Singh Singhvi, who presided over the now defunct Competition Appeal Court, and had overturned an order from the Competition Commission of India imposing a fine of Rs 52.24 crore on the BCCI for abusing his dominant position in the organization of the Indian Premier League; and Judge Abhay Mohan Sapre, former SC judge, who served on the court that appointed SC Judge DK Jain as the new BCCI Ombudsman.
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