"Supreme Court protecting corrupt judges"

The former Law Minister, Shanti Bhushan, appearing as a coucel here, remarked in the Court today that the Supreme Court was protecting corrupt judges. He quoted attempts at giving effect to an earlier ruling of 1991 to prove his point.
Visibly annoyed, Justice Agarwal offered to withdraw himself from the hearing. "If a former Law Minister and an eminent jurist like you make such allegations, we shall not hear the matter. You are not behaving like a lawyer. You are arguing like a street urchin," he said.
Justice Agarwal further said: "This is contemptuous. You cannot proceed to make remarks like this. This is an allegation against the Supreme Court of India."
But it had no effect on Bhushan who continued "Your Lordship can proceed against me. I stand by the charges."
Justice B N Agarwal, a senior judge of the apex court, thenwithdrew himself from hearing. The Court was hearing Provident Fund scandal case of Ghaziabad. The case allegedly involves, among other names, those of several sitting and retired judges.
Chief Justice Balakrishnan had earlier excused himself from the matter after Shanti Bhushan questioned the propriety of his hearing the case. Justice Agarwal is the seniormost judge in the hierarchy after Chief Justice Balakrishnan.