D H Lawrence had once said ‘Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar’. If one replaces the last word ‘calendar’ with ‘status or position’, this quote then fits the recent case where accidentally a stack of unaccounted cash running in millions has been found in the house of a serving Delhi High Court (HC) Judge. Many may call the judge in question, Justice Yashwant Varma, an extremely unlucky man.
The official building in which Justice Varma lives was engulfed with fire on 14 March, 2025. Someone from his residence called the fire brigade for help since the judge was not at home. A firefighting team stepped in a store room brimming with currency notes during their efforts to douse the fire. The police were informed, the matter was escalated to government authorities and the Chief Justice of India (CJI). A meeting of the collegium was called and they decided to transfer Justice Varma back to Allahabad HC from where he had come to Delhi.
A procedure for dealing with such cases of misconduct involving constitutional court judges was adopted in 1999. The CJI is required to seek a response from the judge in question and if not satisfied, he can order an inhouse inquiry. If the misconduct is of a serious nature, CJI can seek the resignation of the judge directly or through the parliament if the judge in question declines to resign. It is indeed surprising that for a nation that has complicated and laborious laws for its citizens, the procedure to deal with such eminent members of judiciary is rather simple.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and philosopher, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire had said famously, ‘More law, less justice’. Perhaps, this is applicable to our judiciary in toto. Judges are all about law but when it comes to their own, justice is normally minimal. In the current case, Justice Varma was merely transferred back to his original HC. Did the collegium hope that a mere transfer would result in a closure of the case? Or were they hoping that the famous adage ‘out of sight out of mind’ would apply here? For the record, in 2018 he was named in a FIR for misappropriation of a bank loan by a company where he was a non-executive director. His name was removed later for reasons unknown.
Why did the CJI not order an inquiry immediately? Was he compelled to order one five days later because of public glare and pressure? Why was the judge not asked to resign immediately? Will it be correct to assume that perhaps a coverup move was initiated which, unfortunately, could not be sustained? Would it have been more prudent to seek a governmental inquiry rather than an inhouse one? These and many more uncomfortable questions will arise since the accused is a sitting judge.
In Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s words ‘Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole humanity. Those who clearly recognise the voice of their own conscience usually also recognise the voice of justice’. It is obvious that Indian judiciary does not follow this dictum since there is no evidence of any conscience, individual or collective, at work in this episode. The collegium also does not subscribe to what Theodore Roosevelt had said, ‘No man is above the law, and no man is below it’. Instead, the collegium has lived up to Alan Dershowitz words, ‘Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice, and they are also the most protected’.
‘They that maketh the laws must not break them’ – is the principle which is the basis of democratic societies and their legal systems. It ensures that everyone, including those in positions of power, are subject to and are accountable under the law. It applies even more to those who are responsible for dispensing justice.
It has been over a week since the incident took place and there has been no word from the man in the eye of the storm – Justice Varma. The collegium, including the CJI, too have chosen remain quiet when there is a crying need to set the record straight. Some apologists for the judiciary have taken shelter behind the routine report of the Fire Department officer where he has not mentioned any cash discovery. No one knows if it was done on purpose, or perhaps it was not within his jurisdiction to do so once the police had stepped in. This lack of transparency raises more uncomfortable questions from the public and media. It is time for the government to set the record straight.
This was golden opportunity for the Indian judiciary to redeem itself since it has a history of such incidents of corruption in its ranks apart from being perceived as partial to the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, they have failed the nation again. The collegium system of managing promotions, workload and postings of the judges too will be under intense scrutiny once again. The current system ensures that the judiciary hides behind an opaque glass wall that common people can never breach. My Lords, like Caeser’s wife, must be above suspicion.
The current government’s initiative to replace the collegium system with a more transparent and accountable system met with intense opposition from the judiciary. Of late, the issue seems to have run out of steam. Perhaps, it is time to pursue it with more vigour and purpose in the interest of the nation. Judiciary is one of the more important and critical arms of any democratic nation as it represents a nation’s collective conscience. At the end of the day, in Martin Luther King Jr’s words, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’. Therefore, as a nation, it is time to show the door to injustice and there is no better place to start than the judiciary itself.
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