K. Veeraswami vs Union Of India And Others on 25 July, 1991
The position of Judges of High Courts and Supreme
Court, who are constitutional functionaries, is distinct,
and the independence of judiciary, keeping it free from any
extraneous influence, including that from executive, is the
rationale of the decision in K. Veeraswami (supra). In
strict terms the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1946 could
not be applied to the superior Judges and, therefore, while
bringing those Judges within the purview of the Act yet
maintaining the independence of judiciary, this guideline
was issued as a direction but the Court. The feature of
independence of judiciary has no application to the officers
covered by the single directive, The need for independence
of judiciary from the directive influence does not arise in
the case of officers belonging to the executive.