New Delhi: The matter of ‘jute sacks full of cash’ allegedly being found at a Delhi High Court judge’s residence came up in the Rajya Sabha Friday as senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh urged Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to direct the government to come up with a proposal for increasing judicial accountability.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna recommended the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma after reports surfaced that ‘jute sacks full of cash’ were found at his official bungalow.
As ThePrint reported earlier, according to sources in the Supreme Court, ‘jute sacks full of cash’ were allegedly found at the outhouse of Justice Varma’s official bungalow last week by a team of firefighters who were called to put out a fire that broke out there.
The judge was not in town at the time and the fire brigade was called by his family members. His 82-year-old mother and daughter were at home.
Ramesh raised the matter in the house soon after it convened.
“This morning, we have read about a shocking case of huge amounts of cash unearthed at the residence of a judge of a Delhi High Court. Earlier, 50 members of Parliament have submitted a notice to you regarding certain remarks that were made by a judge of the Allahabad High Court. You yourself have repeatedly called for urgency regarding judicial accountability. You have, in fact, directed the Leader of the House on this issue,” he said.
“I request that you please make some observations on this and give necessary directions to the government to come up with a proposal for increasing judicial accountability,” he added.
Commenting on the subject, Dhankhar, without mentioning the judge directly, said: “If the malaise had been dealt with, perhaps we would not have countenanced such kind of issues.”
He was referring to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act that the Modi government had enacted after coming to power in 2014.
The NJAC was tasked with the responsibility of making judicial appointments, but the Act was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in October 2015. The court also upheld the collegium system for the appointment of judges.
“You all will recollect the mechanism which was passed by this house with near unanimity, with no dissension, only one abstention in the Rajya Sabha, all political parties converging, going in for the initiative of the government. I wish to find out the status of that which emanated from Indian Parliament, made sacrosanct by the endorsement of 16 state assemblies and signed by the Hon’ble President,” said Dhankhar.
“That historic legislation endorsed by this Parliament with unprecedented consensual support unknown to parliamentary history of this country dealt with the malaise very severely. If the malaise had been dealt with, perhaps we would not have countenanced such kind of issues,” he asserted.
The Rajya Sabha Chairman added that “what bothers me is that the incident (alleged recovery of cash) happened and did not immediately surface”.
He also said that if any such incident “related to a politician, bureaucrat or industrialist” had come to light, they would have become a “target immediately”.
“Therefore, systemic response which is transparent, accountable, effective, I am sure will be on the way. I will get in touch with the Leader of the House, Leader of the Opposition and find a mechanism for a structured discussion in the course of the session, subject to their agreement,” Dhankhar said.
Ramesh also mentioned a pending notice regarding the impeachment of a judge of the Allahabad High Court.
On this, the Chairman said he had received a representation from 55 members of the Rajya Sabha and had taken all necessary steps to get verification from the signatories.
“Most members responded positively, helping me perform my duty,” he said, adding that if the number of signatories was above 50, he would proceed accordingly.
He asserted that once all the members responded to mails sent to them, “the process will not be delayed at my level, even for a moment”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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Transferred?! Why the hell wasn’t this judge fired??!!
Or is it in litigation?
Indian judiciary is way more rotten than Indian politics. Judges, from district courts to the Supreme Court, have their “rates” and justice can be purchased.
This Delhi High Court judge is just unfortunate to have gotten caught with the cash stash.
This precisely is the reason why the Supreme Court does not want the Collegium system to end. The Supreme Court sits at the apex of this pyramid of corruption and manages this well oiled enterprise through the Collegium system.