CJAR writes to Vazifdar J, seeks expeditious decision on Indrajit Mahanty J inquiry

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) has sent a missive to Punjab & Haryana High Court Chief Justice SJ Vazifdar urging the speedy determination of the probe into allegations against Orissa High Court judge Indrajit Mahanty J..Former Chief Justice of India TS Thakur had constituted a Committee headed by Vazifdar J and also comprising Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph and Justice S Abdul Nazeer, currently an apex court judge, to investigate two sitting judges of the Orissa High Court, Justices Mahanty and Sangam Kumar Sahoo, for alleged abuse of power and position during their tenure..CJAR’s letter was sent in light of new information that a Supreme Court judge’s name had cropped up during the course of the investigation into Mahanty J’s dealings. The letter states,.“We feel that there is no reason why the mere cropping up of the name of this senior Supreme Court judge, should in any way stall the inquiry against Justice Mahanty. The charges against Justice Mahanty must be decided on their merits irrespective of his connection with the Supreme Court judge.”.The letter also lays out the allegations of judicial impropriety made against Mahanty J, along with purported documentary evidence. It was alleged that Mahanty is running a hotel business in Cuttack, in violation of the Restatement of values of Judicial Life, a code of conduct for sitting judges made by the Supreme Court in 1997. Those guidelines state,.“A Judge shall not engage directly or indirectly in trade or business either by himself of in association with any other person. (Publication of a legal treatise or any activity in the nature of a hobby shall not be construed as a trade or business).”.It was also brought to light that ‘Triple C’, what is alleged to the judge’s hotel, is a five-storeyed building, when he had permission to build only a three-storeyed building on the land..Further, Triple C, along with other hotels, was found to have been in violation of the state law banning the employment of female dancers and singers in bars. The same was brought to the notice of the Sub-Inspector of the Excise Department, who issued an order directing the hotels to stop the practice..This order was challenged in the High Court, before a Bench of Justice Mahanty and Justice DP Choudhary, which ruled that women could be employed for musical performances in bars and liquor serving restaurants across Orissa. This, the CJAR letter states, amounted to a conflict of interest on Mahanty’s part..“This is a case of clear conflict of interest and Justice Indrajit Mahanty should have recused himself from hearing the matter. This is because, at the relevant time, Justice Indrajit Mahanty owned hotel, ran a dance bar where women were employed for musical performances, which was a clear violation of the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act, 1915…”.Thus, CJAR has asked the Committee to take a quick decision on the matter so that follow up action can be taken..Read the letter:.Image of Justice Vazifdar taken from here.