By Krishnaraj Rao
“BUS KYA, DATTU? DAWA-DAARU ke liye public se paise leneka, lekin public ko hisaab denaka nahin?” That’s what the man-on-the-street will be saying today.
Many of CJI Dattu’s brother-judges in High Court and Supreme Court are presenting INFLATED OR COOKED-UP MEDICAL BILLS for getting reimbursement from taxpayers’ money. Surely he knows this? It’s an open secret.
And that’s really why the Supreme Court bench presided over by Chief Justice H L Dattu yesterday rejected a plea for disclosing medical expenditures of judges and their family under RTI. “There should be some respect for privacy and if such information (is) disclosed, there will be no stopping,” the bench told advocate Prashant Bhushan.
Prashant Bhushan, representing RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, argued that the public felt that judiciary was not willing to follow the standards of transparency and accountability that it expects from other authorities and public servants.
Needless to say, there is much that Prashant Bhushan left unsaid, to avoid disrespecting the judges. But bhai-log, let’s call a spade a spade, OK?
