Colleague warned me of transfer, says Karnataka high court judge

BENGALURU: Karnataka high court judge Justice HP Sandesh on Monday said there is a threat of his transfer, following his remarks during an earlier hearing of a bail petition filed by an accused in the Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner's office bribery case.
"Your ADGP is apparently so powerful and some person has spoken to one of the judges in the high court. That high court judge came, spoke to me and said I could be transferred, citing the example of a judicial officer who was transferred to some other district. I will not hesitate to name the judge who came and sat with me and cited that example. There is a threat of transfer to this court. I am going to protect the independence of judiciary at the cost of my judgeship," the judge told the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) advocate.
He was hearing the petition filed by Mahesh PS, a deputy tahsildar in the Bengaluru Urban DC's office, who has been arrested in the bribery case being probed by ACB. During earlier hearings, justice Sandesh had observed that there were allegations against the institution of ACB itself. Questioning why the Bengaluru Urban DC was not named in the FIR, the judge had termed ACB a "centre of corruption" and said it is helmed by a tainted ADGP.
He reiterated that when the whole country is suffering because of corruption, the investigation agency is protecting corrupt officials by filing B-reports. He referred to one such B-report wherein assets worth over Rs 4.2 crore, including 5kg of gold, had been recovered from an IAS officer.
"I have my father's four acres of farm land. I can feed some people if I leave this judgeship, but I won't swoop down to this level. Why is there a threat to me if that was the case? I am not sitting here to please anybody. This is nothing but an attack on the independence of the institution of judiciary," justice Sandesh said.
The ACB advocate, who was supposed to submit data regarding the B-report filed by the agency and other details, told the court that the said data is with a division bench of the high court, wherein the constitutional validity of ACB is under challenge. However, the judge said if they are not in a position to produce the documents, the court will summon them. "I have no personal interest. This (corruption) is a cancer. You should stop this cancer before it reaches fourth stage. I will bell the cat even at the cost of my judgeship. Now you are going back on your undertaking of submitting documents about the data on your performance," he noted.
Data will be produced: AG
Later in the afternoon, advocate general Prabhuling K Navadgi appeared before the court and assured the judge that all data such as B-reports, obtaining of search warrants and instances of not conducting searches despite warrants will be placed before the court on the next date of hearing. Justice Sandesh acceded to the said request and adjourned the hearing to July 7.
The judge again asked why the probe in the DC office bribery case is not proceeding in a proper way since there is prima facie case that the DC has through his personal assistant and a private individual (alleged agent of DC), collected Rs 5 lakh after a demand for Rs 15 lakh was scaled down. The said bribe was allegedly collected to settle a land dispute.