India, June 16 -- Five years after my appointment as a judge of the Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court, Greater Bombay, I was designated a special judge for trying cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Cases involving corruption by public servants in the service of the Central Government were investigated by the CBI, while those against state government servants were investigated by the State Anti-Corruption Bureau, which has its own special court.

That there was corruption in the lower Judiciary, though not rampant, was well known. The Chief Justice of India, Shri SP Bharucha, after his appointment sometime in 2001, made a statement pegging corruption in the lower Judi...