NEW DELHI: The Allahabad high court bar association on Friday opposed Justice Yashwant Varma‘s repatriation, as decided by the Supreme Court Collegium after the discovery of the money, and said that they are “not a trash bin.”
In a stern letter to the Chief Justice and all Judges of the Allahabad high court, the bar association released a statement, asserting that “we aren’t a trash bin” and said it had been “taken aback” by the Collegium’s decision, Live Law reported.
This remarks came after a pile of unaccounted cash- allegedly 15 crore- was found following the fire broke out at Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence.
“This decision of the Collegium raises a serious question – is the Allahabad High Court a trash bin? This matter becomes important when we examine the current situation… wherein the Allahabad High Court is short of judges… new judges have not appointed for many years.”
“It is also of grave concern that while appointing judges by elevating members of the Bar, the Bar was never consulted. Consideration of eligibility appears to be not upto the mark. Something is lacking which has resulted in corruption and consequently, a great damage has been caused to the ‘public faith in judiciary’,” it added.
The correspondence further notes that while the High Court faces numerous challenges, particularly a judicial vacancy crisis causing delays in hearing new cases and affecting public confidence in legal processes, this should not be interpreted as acceptance of unsuitable appointments.
‘Delhi HC Judge Yashwant Varma transferred’
Justice Varma was out of town when the fire broke out, prompting his family members to call the fire brigade and police. After the blaze was extinguished, first responders found a huge sum of cash in one of the rooms.
The local police reported the matter to their seniors, who escalated it to top government officials. The information soon reached Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, who convened an urgent collegium meeting.
The collegium unanimously decided to transfer Justice Varma to his parent court, the Allahabad high court. However, some members expressed concerns that merely transferring him could damage the judiciary’s reputation and suggested that he should either resign or face an in-house inquiry, a process that could lead to his removal by Parliament.
According to the Supreme Court’s in-house procedure for investigating allegations against constitutional court judges, the CJI first seeks the judge’s response before deciding whether to initiate a probe. If a deeper investigation is needed, a panel comprising a Supreme Court judge and two high court chief justices may be formed.