Nariman applauds Iyer for seeking ex-CJI’s probe
By IANSSunday, January 2, 2011
KOCHI - Retired Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer has been applauded by veteran lawyer Fali S. Nariman for demanding a probe into allegations of corruption against former chief justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan.
In a letter to Iyer, Nariman wrote: “As always, you are the hero of 2010. Your prompt and pithily devastating remarks on the conduct of NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) chairman deserves special rounds of applause. This is just to tell you that we all are deeply beholden to you for always reminding judges, past and present, that honour comes first.”
Iyer surprised many Dec 27 when he held a press conference and demanded an investigation into how Balakrishnan’s son-in-law P.V. Srinijin, a Congress leader and a lawyer by profession, had acquired huge wealth in the past three years.
Since then, reports of large scale amassment of wealth by Balakrishnan’s kith and kin have appeared in the media.
Iyer was the law and irrigation minister in the world’s first elected Communist government in 1957 led by E.M.S. Namboodiripad in Kerala.
He was appointed a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1968 and elevated to the Supreme Court in 1973.
He was the member of the apex court bench which passed a landmark ruling directing the government to provide free legal services to the accused in custody.
He retired from the apex court in November 1980.
