Many people have asked me why I did not speak out against corruption when I was a Judge.
My answer is that there is an unwritten code of conduct for sitting ( not retired ) Judges that they should not go into the public domain. However, though there was this constraint on me when I was a sitting Judge, I was not silent.
I repeatedly spoke out against corruption when I was Chief Justice of High Courts and a Supreme Court Judge, e.g.
(1) I said in my judgment in the Supreme Court in Raja Khan vs. U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board, 2011 (see online ) " Something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court ".
(2) In the chicken fodder scam case i said " The corrupt politicians and bureaucrats should be hanged from the nearest lamp post ".
(3) When I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court I wrote to the then CJI Lahoti against continuation of a corrupt Additional Judge of the Madras High Court who had the support of a leading politician in Tamilnadu, and for whom 3 CJIs made improper compromises with politicians ( by continuing him ), although there was an adverse IB report against him
(4) When I was Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court I met the then CJI Justice Lahoti in Delhi and informed him about some corrupt Judges of Allahabad High Court. On this information some were transferred.
(5) When Judge of the Supreme Court I informed in writing to the then CJI Justice Sabarwal about a corrupt senior Judge of the Delhi High Court.
(6) I informed Justice Kapadia about a corrupt Chief Justice of a High Court ( who was earlier a Judge in the Madras High Court when I was the Chief Justice there ), who was proposed to be elevated to the Supreme Court
(7) I gave CJI Kapadia the mobile numbers of 3 agents of a corrupt senior Judge of Allahabad High Court Judge through whom he was making deals.
(8) When I was in the Collegium of the Allahabad High Court, I objected to the then Chief Justice of the High Court to recommending the names of some very senior district judges for elevation to the High Court on the ground that they were known to be corrupt, although they obtained good entries in their service record by obliging their Administrative judges ( portfolio judges ) in some ways.
I can give several other instances where I fought against corruption. But surely I alone could not eliminate all the corruption in India
