Supreme Court wants 'clean-up' of Allahabad High Court

The Supreme Court on Friday called for a clean-up in the Allahabad High Court, asking the chief justice to act against judges facing serious complaints.

''Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, said Shakespeare in Hamlet, and it can similarly be said something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court,'' said a bench of the apex court, comprising justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra. ''We are sorry to say a lot of complaints are coming against certain judges of the Allahabad High Court relating to their integrity.''

Dismissing an appeal against an Allahabad High Court division bench order, the Supreme Court found that two ex parte interim orders were ''clearly passed on extraneous considerations'' by a single judge of the court. The judge, acting on a writ petition filed by an individual against the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf board and the district magistrate of Bahraich, allotted waqf land to a circus. The division bench set aside the order.

The apex court said that the property in question was in Bahraich district within the territorial jurisdiction of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, but the petition was entertained by the single judge in Allahabad. ''The writ petition was not maintainable because ordinarily no writ petition lies against a private body,'' it said.

''The Allahabad High Court really needs some cleaning and we request the honourable chief justice of the high court to do the needful, even if he has to take some strong measures, including transfer of the incorrigibles,'' said the Supreme Court. ''There are some 'incorrigible' judges in the Allahabad High Court who pass orders on extraneous considerations.''

The apex court noted that the kith and kin of some judges practice in the same court and within a few years become multi-millionaires with huge bank balances and homes and luxurious cars and lives.

''We do not mean to say that all lawyers who have close relations as judges of the High Court are misusing that relationship. Some are scrupulously taking care that no one should lift a finger on this account. However, others are shamelessly taking advantage of this relationship.''