NAHAR SINGH YADAV Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question raised by the Central Bureau of Investigation (for short "the CBI"), Anti Corruption Branch, Ghaziabad in their affidavit dated 15th July 2010, for our consideration is whether or not the trial arising out of the chargesheet filed by the CBI in Case RC-1(A)/2008/CBI/ACB/Ghaziabad and the local police, Ghaziabad in Case Crime No. 152/2008 PS Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad deserves to be transferred from the Court of Special Judge, CBI at Ghaziabad to some other court of competent jurisdiction, preferably at Delhi under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Delhi, with a direction to the Trial Court to conduct the trial of the case on a day to day basis, and to complete it within a period of two years.

(2.) Since the case, commonly known as "the Ghaziabad P.F. Scam", giving rise to the afore-stated prayer, involves violation of the standards of judicial behaviour, which is expected to be of the highest order, be it on or off the Bench, we feel concerned by the alleged events and have given our anxious consideration to the issue raised. In order to appreciate the controversy, a few material facts may be noticed. These are:

(3.) The CBI filed periodical status reports in this Court with regard to the progress made in the investigations from time to time. Ultimately, the final report was filed by the CBI on 30th July 2010. According to the final report, the investigations had revealed that during the period 2001-2008, late Ashutosh Asthana while working as Bill Clerk and Central Nazir, District Court, Ghaziabad, by abusing his official position as public servant entered into a criminal conspiracy with 6 District Judges/Incharge District Judge and 71 others with the intent to cheat the District Courts, Ghaziabad/Government of U.P., fraudulently and dishonestly withdrew over Rs. 6 Crores from the District Treasury as GPF withdrawals, creating fake/forged documents for withdrawing money in the name of GPF of Class-IV employees using them as genuine, thereby causing a loss of over Rs. 6 Crores to the Government Exchequer and corresponding gains to themselves. According to the report, a chargesheet under Section 120B read with Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Act against accused persons, as named in the chargesheet, has been filed in the Court of Special Judge, CBI, Ghaziabad on 3rd July 2010.