NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court on Monday asked former judge of
Andhra Pradesh High Court
Justice V Eswaraiah to file an affidavit certifying authenticity of the his
leaked private telephonic conversation
pertaining to a sitting SC judge for which the high court has ordered a probe.
Justice Eswaraiah approached the apex court challenging the HC order for an investigation into his private telephonic conversation. A division bench of the high court had ordered the inquiry in August, under the supervision of former SC judge Justice
R V Raveendran
.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the judge, pleaded before a bench headed by Justice
Ashok Bhushan
that the HC erred in ordering the probe as it was a private conversation. "How can a private conversation be a matter of inquiry. What is the crime in having private conversation even when it pertains to a sitting judge," he said.
Justice Eswaraiah in his petition termed the HC order illegal since it was issued without hearing him and was based on an application of a suspended district munsif magistrate, the other party in the telephonic conversation.
The magistrate had annexed the transcript of the conversation with an application that was filed in an unrelated PIL.
Opposing Bhushan's arguments, senior advocate
Kapil Sibal, appearing for the magistrate, alleged that there was nothing private about the conversation and it was part of a motivated attack on the system which had to be probed. .
With Bhushan questioning the accuracy of the transcripts of the conversation, the bench asked him to file an affidavit to accept that he was part of the
telephonic conversation
and also the correct version of the transcripts.
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