A pile of cash was found in Justice Yashwant Varma’s bungalow in Delhi after a fire accident. The cash was found when firefighters were called to his bungalow to doze the fire that was caught while Justice Varma was on holiday break. After the controversy he was summoned by the five-member Supreme Court collegium led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and has been transferred to his parent court–Allahabad.
During the fire incident, the judge was not in the city and the family members called the firefighters who discovered the cash and called for the police. The matter has been taken seriously and an immediate transfer was initiated.
It was also reported that few members thought a stricter measure must be taken against the action and Justice Varma must be told to resign. DK Upadhyay, the chief justice of Delhi High Court responded to advocate Arun Bhardwaj and said that everyone was “shaken”.
“Today’s incident has pained many of us. Please take some steps on the administrative side so these incidents do not happen in the future and the judicial system is maintained…” Mr Bhardwaj said.
An in-house inquiry has also been set up to look into the matter as it is a serious blotch on the reputation of the judicial system in the country. This will be the first step of his removal if found guilty. The removal of judges of the high court can be done as per the 1999 rules laid by the supreme court. If the judge refuses to be guilty of his behaviour the chief justice can write to the government for a removal under Article 124 of the Indian constitution.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal asked the Supreme Court to “start looking at how the appointment process (to nominate judges) takes place“.
