Geo World

Former Indian chief justice to face graft probe: report

NEW DELHI: India's home ministry has ordered revenue officials to investigate allegations of corruption levelled against a former Supreme Court chief justice, a report said Wednesday. The ministry has called for a probe into the assets of K.G. Balakrishnan, who was India's highest ranked judge for more than three years from 2007 and currently heads the National Human Rights Commission. The ministry's order followed a petition which alleged Balakrishnan had "acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income," the news agency said, citing unnamed home ministry officials. "The petition with allegations has been sent to the secretary (of the) revenue department for inquiry," PTI said. The home ministry's official spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the report. A string of corruption scandals has dented the image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party-led government and fomented outrage across Indian society at the apparent scale of graft by officials going unpunished. The government has offered to draft an anti-graft bill in consultation with civil society activists who are pushing for tough provisions to punish corrupt bureaucrats, members of the judiciary and politicians. India has a dismal record of bringing corrupt senior public officials to justice, with current laws requiring the government's approval before any sitting bureaucrat or minister can be prosecuted. In six decades only one senior politician has been convicted of graft and served a jail term. (AFP)