New Delhi: A group of lawyers, arbitrators, meditators, among others have accused the outgoing Chief Justice N.V. Ramana of restoring to “illegal acts” in setting up and promoting the Hyderabad-based International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC), which was inaugurated in December 2021.A representation to this effect was made by the group of legal professionals to urge the Union government to constitute a high-level committee to probe into the “illegal acts” of CJI Ramana.The 65 signatories of the representation also sought the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to investigate the assets and financial transactions pertaining to the project, “since it involves a large-scale misuse of public funds and assets by the Government of Telangana overlooking procedure and propriety”.Chief Justice Ramana’s term came to an end on Friday, August 26, upon attainment of superannuation. He was in office for 16 months.According to the above representation, the main charge against CJI Ramana is that he has “misused” his official position “to promote and solicit business” for IAMC, which is neither a body of the Government of India nor that of the Supreme Court of India. Instead, the signatories alleged, it was established in his personal capacity as a public charitable trust.Also read: Thanks to Our Judges, Darkness Now Clouds India’s Mediation Playing FieldThe trust deed was executed by him as its author, who, in turn, made Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice R.V. Raveendran as life trustees. While Justice Rao is still serving as a judge at the apex court, Justice Raveendran retired from the top court. Justice Hima Kohli of the top court and Telangana law minister A. Indrakaran Reddy were made ex-officio trustees. When the deed was executed on August 20, 2021, Justice Kohli was serving as the Chief Justice of Telangana.Representation Against CJI by The Wire“This information was conspicuously concealed during the inaugural function [held on December 18, 2021] nor made public… it is seen that Justice Ramana has been consistently promoting the centre and using his official position to solicit business for the centre,” the signatories alleged.Sriram Panchu, who is one of the signatories of the representation, had already raised concerns on the same in his earlier article which The Wire published in June this year. The Wire also published two articles which sought to counter Panchu – one by K. Kannan and another by Gopal Sankaranarayanan – as well as Panchu’s responses.The inauguration ceremony of IAMC was attended by CJI Ramana along with Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, his ministerial colleagues and several state government functionaries. The event passed off as an official programme.Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao and Chief Justice of India NV Ramana with others at the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC) curtain raiser in Hyderabad in December 2021. Photo: Twitter/@TelanganaCMO“The press release given by the centre was as if an international centre has been launched by the government of Telangana and the chief justice in his official capacity has inaugurated it. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Supreme Court judges Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Hima Kohli in their official capacity,” the representation said.The group of signatories list out a number of instances when CJI Ramana had personally told litigants in a number of cases that they “should” use the services of IAMC for mediation. In particular, the representation refers to a scenario where parties in the property dispute between former chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Lalit Modi and his mother Bina Modi had been asked to make use of services at IAMC. In fact, CJI Ramana himself revealed it during the inaugural ceremony of IAMC, the representation recounted.Also read: Andhra CM Jagan Declares War on Justice Ramana, Next-in-Line to be Chief Justice of IndiaThe representation then goes on to indicate multiple times when CJI Ramana – again in his official capacity – promoted and persuaded attendees at national and international events to use the services of IAMC. A number of them, both in individual and organisational capacities, responded positively to his calls, the signatories alleged.For instance, the Telangana government went ahead to announce that it would make IAMC its adjudication centre for any possible disputes that may arise during the implementation of its contracts, and tenders, about the state government’s works. The government has already passed orders to this effect.One of the state government’s orders states that IAMC will be the institution for all the contracts above Rs 30 million where the ministries, departments and other entities controlled or managed by the government of Telangana are involved. Another order mandates that all the public sector undertakings (PSUs) disputes of value above Rs 100 million will be handled by the IAMC only, note the representation.The signatories also call into question how the state government had helped IAMC obtain resources, including five-acre prime land, worth Rs 250 crore, outside Hyderabad on which IAMC now stands.“The largesse from the state government of Telangana was only to oblige the positional pressure exerted by Justice Ramana and use his close friendship with the Chief Minister. In addition, it is understood that State Government has given Rs. 50 crores to this Centre,” they alleged.Incidentally, CJI Ramana had also faced serious allegations when he was to join the office 16 months ago in October 2020. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in a shocking letter addressed to CJI Ramana’s predecessor, Justice S. A. Bobde, accused Justice Ramana of serious corruption using his influence and proximity to former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.