CBI plea for transfer of PF scam trial rejected

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected CBI’s plea for transfer of the multicrore PF scam case, in which six judges including three former HC judges have been chargesheeted, to Delhi.
CBI was apprehensive of a fair trial in view of the involvement of many former judges of the Ghaziabad district court and Allahabad HC and wanted it to be transferred outside, preferably to Delhi.
However, a Bench comprising Justices D K Jain, V S Sirpurkar and G S Singhvi felt that the apprehensions were misplaced and termed the CBI’s plea for transfer of the trial as shorn of merit. With this, the trial in the scam, which was stayed on July 27, will commence.



The Bench said the mere possibility of the trial judge having worked with or under any of the accused, who were HC judges or district judges, could not be sufficient ground to hold that the trial would not be fair and transparent.
While pleading for transfer of trial, CBI, through attorney general G E Vahanvati, had said that involvement of as many as 30 judges in the multi-crore provident fund scam had shaken the confidence of people in judiciary.
Five of the six accused judges, including three former HC judges, had opposed transfer of trial on the ground that all of them had retired and were in no position to influence witnesses. They also argued that Delhi was far from their residence and engaging a lawyer and staying in the national Capital was an expensive proposition.
In July, CBI had dealt a huge blow to the judiciary in the case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 6.58 crore from PF accounts of class III and IV employees in Ghaziabad district court.
After investigating as many as 47 judges for their alleged role in the scam, it had submitted a report to the SC detailing the misdemeanour and acts of commission and omission of a former SC judge and 23 other sitting and retired HC and lower court judges. The report contained the name of Justice Tarun Chatterjee, who retired from the Supreme Court on January 14.
CBI had given its report to Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia and Allahabad High Court CJ for taking action on the administrative side against the 24 judges, who were found to have committed acts of commission and omission but were not being proceeded against due to lack of “prosecutable evidence”.
The PF scam happened between 2001 and 2008 with the accused Ashutosh Asthana as treasury officer playing a key role. The scam was brought to light by Ghaziabad special judge Rama Jain, who filed a complaint on February 15, 2008. Asthana died under mysterious circumstances in Dasna jail in September last year.