Justice Yashwant Varma, the second seniormost judge of the Delhi High Court, has no option but to resign from the judiciary if he wants to restore its eminence. While denying that cash was found in his bungalow, he rightly pointed out his credibility has been shattered forever. When judges lie, justice dies.
CJI Sanjiv Khanna’s directive to the Delhi High Court chief justice, D.K. Upadhyay, not to assign any judicial work to this tainted judge will further erode his credibility, so that if he continues as a judge in the Allahabad High Court (AHC), where the collegium decided to transfer him, its credibility will be eroded. This corruption case against Justice Yashwant Varma will test the mettle of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay, who is just 60 years old and is due for elevation to the Supreme Court. He was earlier the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
The immunity given to all judges in this country by the Supreme Court in K. Veeraswami versus Union of India, a landmark judgement delivered in 1991, wherein no investigative agency could register an FIR against a sitting judge without the Chief Justice of India’s concurrence, protects both honest and dishonest judges.
This is why the CBI cannot charge-sheet Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court without the approval of CJI Sanjiv Khanna. But CJI Khanna has just 49 days to demit office, after which Justice Bhushan Gavai will succeed him as the 52nd CJI. The view taken by Justice Bhushan Gavai and his collegium may not be identical to that taken by his predecessor.
As of today, a three-judge inquiry committee comprising the chief justices of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Sheel Nagu and G.S. Sandhawalia, respectively, and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court will submit their report and findings to CJI Sanjiv Khanna or his successor, Justice Bhushan Gavai. There can be no doubt that if this report does not indict this allegedly corrupt judge, neither the CBI nor any constitutional authority can do anything.
The fact that the Delhi Fire Brigade found piles of cash inside the outhouse of Justice Yashwant Varma’s official residence has now been proved beyond any semblance of doubt. The Delhi Fire Brigade chief first confirmed, then denied, and then denied that he had denied that cash was found inside Justice Varma’s outhouse. Just as two negatives equal a positive, we cannot doubt that bundles of cash were found inside Justice Varma’s outhouse.
Justice Varma has used the hackneyed phrase of politicians that it was a “conspiracy” against him. This will not withstand judicial scrutiny. As a member of the Delhi High Court Collegium, which selects putative judges, interviews them, and sends their files to the Supreme Court collegium, Justice Varma’s recommendations for judgeship and all his judgements come under suspicion.
Those political parties or corporate bodies who allegedly paid the judge in cash to ensure their interests were protected will not come forward to declare this to the CBI. It is only political parties or corporate bodies which will pay cash to the judge. They will never come forward to confirm or deny the truth because they will incriminate themselves.
The Allahabad High Court Bar Association staunchly opposed the so-called “ghar wapasi” of Justice Varma by saying their high court was not a rubbish bin for corrupt judges to be sent back. Their vociferous protest came in the wake of a judgement by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra of the same high court, who ruled that grabbing a child’s breasts, breaking her pyjama strings, and dragging her under a culvert did not constitute an attempt to rape her under the stringent POCSO Act. A ridiculous judgement.
Mishra started his career as a lowly munsiff and rose to become a principal district and sessions judge before being elevated to the Allahabad High Court. This proves the collegium process for selecting judges is questionable, which is why the National Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms (NLC in short) has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court questioning the selection process of judges.
Another judge with a dubious reputation in the AHC is Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, who declared in one of his judgements that scientists believe the cow is the only animal to inhale and exhale oxygen. That cow’s milk gives special energy to the rays of the sun, which ultimately causes rain. The AHC has excellent judges, but judges like Justice Shekhar Yadav and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra, 45th and 67th in seniority, both born in 1964, have questionable competency levels, which is why they will, thankfully, never be elevated to the Supreme Court.
Led by its president, Mathews Nedumpara, the NLC has demanded the revival of the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill (JSAB) 2010, which was introduced to set up a mechanism to probe judicial misconduct. It lapsed without being passed by Parliament. In their petition, they have alleged a sitting judge from the Kerala High Court was implicated in a POCSO case, although his name was not mentioned by the police in the petition.
The NLC also mentioned the case of Rs 15 lakh being delivered to the official bungalow of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, mistakenly assuming she was Justice Nirmal Yadav, both women judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHC). The then Chief Justice of the PHC was Tirath Singh Thakur, who later became the 43rd CJI. His inquiry report about that scandal was never placed in the public domain.
Advocate Nedumpara will argue that the verdict in K. Veeraswami versus Union of India, which was delivered in 1991, should be reviewed so that the judiciary will be more accountable to the people of India, who are the ultimate custodians of the Constitution.
But those are academic arguments made before erudite judges clad in black robes sitting in air-conditioned courtrooms, who will ultimately decide the fate of Justice Yashwant Varma, notwithstanding the people of India who imagine they are sovereign when in fact they never were.
Olav Albuquerque holds a Ph.D. in law and is a senior journalist-cum-advocate of the Bombay high court.
