The transfer of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma – in whose home a pile of unaccounted cash was found last week – is not the “final step”, sources told NDTV Friday afternoon, confirming the Supreme Court had ordered an in-house inquiry into the matter.
Source also said the Supreme Court Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna had sought a report from the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, DK Upadhyaya, and also briefed fellow judges in the top court.
Based on the outcome of the investigation, Justice Varma may either be asked to resign or be removed from office by Parliament, under Article 124(4) of the Constitution.
Justice Varma – who has not commented yet and is “on leave” for the day – will, meanwhile, be transferred to his parent High Court in Allahabad, the Supreme Court Collegium decided earlier.
The controversy surrounding Justice Varma – appointed to the Delhi High Court in 2021 – broke during Holi last week, when a blaze at his Delhi bungalow had to be put out by firefighters.
READ | Cash Found In Delhi Judge’s Home, Supreme Court Collegium Acts
In doing so, they found the cash and alerted the police. And, as the news ran through official channels, the Supreme Court was alerted, and the five-member Collegium was convened.
Sources said the Chief Justice took a very serious view of the discovery of the cash and the Collegium concurred, agreeing unanimously on Justice Varma’s transfer.
There was talk then of Justice Varma being asked to resign.
The controversy has drawn strong comments about the functioning of the Supreme Court Collegium, which is supposed to vet and appoint judges to the High Court and its own benches.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising called on the Collegium to pay serious attention to the issue of corruption in the judiciary, with Mr Sibal, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, saying, “… this is not something articulated by senior councils and lawyers for the first time…”
Ms Jaising, meanwhile, told news agency PTI, “… there was a duty cost upon the Collegium to make a full, free, and frank disclosure of the facts of the case when this matter came to its attention. There is also a duty cast on the Collegium to disclose the amount recovered.”
The matter was also raised in Parliament after the Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP, Jairam Ramesh, sought a response from the Chairperson – Jagdeep Dhankhar, a former lawyer himself.
READ | After Cash Found In Delhi Judge’s Home, Jagdeep Dhankhar Says…
Mr Dhankhar said what bothered him most was that this did not come to light immediately, and called for a “systemic response… which is transparent, accountable, and effective…”
With input from agencies
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