Delhi High Court Judge Sunil Gaur, who rejected senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram's bail petition, has been appointed by the Union government as chairperson of the PMLA Appellate Tribunal, with the move kicking off a political furore.
According to sources, Gaur will take over as PMLA Appellate Tribunal chairperson on September 23. The term of Justice Manmohan Singh, the current chairman of tribunal, comes to an end on September 22.
Reacting to the post-retirement appointment of Gaur, Randeep Singh Surjewala, head of the AICC Communications Department, tried to draw a link between Gaur's order rejecting the bail application of Chidambaram in the INX Media case and his new assignment, saying, “The entire country was stunned today. Each individual who believes in the sense of justice and rule of law was shocked. Everybody who swears by Constitution as the soul of India was deeply distressed by the manner and fashion in which first, for seven months, the judgement was kept reserved, (and) was delivered two days before retirement, and 48 hours thereafter, two leaves apart, the person is re-appointed to an important post.”
He further commented: “Is this the fairness of judiciary that we always spoke about? Is this the neutrality of judiciary in the face of onslaught by the powers that our Constitution makers conceived of? Is this the fair play and sense of justice that each one of us swears by in our soul as also written in our Constitution? I urge every Indian as also the individual concerned to look within, as also the government to introspect as to how their actions are now currently being viewed.”
Gaur passed his judgment in the Chidambaram matter on August 20. He retired on August 22.
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The Congress had already pointed out that Gaur passed the order rejecting the bail application of Chidambaram in the INX Media case, paving the way for his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation, barely 48 hours before he retired.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who pleaded against the Delhi High Court's order in the Supreme Court, claimed before the apex court that the high court judge had in his order “copy-pasted” paragraphs from the Enforcement Directorate's note to the court. “If courts now, on a note handed over by ED counsel without it being on affidavit are cut-pasted to deny me bail, then how can I even think of getting bail?” Sibal told the Supreme Court.
Gaur was appointed to the Delhi High Court in April, 2008 as an additional judge. He was made a permanent judge in April, 2012. As high court judge, he dealt with many politically-sensitive cases. He had passed an order that cleared the way for prosecution of top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in the National Herald Case.
