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Cash controversy: SC should allow filing of FIR against justice Varma, says Dhankhar
On Wednesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju underlined the government’s resolve to take all political parties on board in moving an impeachment motion against Justice Varma, saying corruption in the judiciary cannot be approached through a “political prism”.
Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday asserted that in the backdrop of the indictment of justice Yashwant Varma by a panel appointed by the Supreme Court in the ‘cash’ seizure case, the judiciary should have given permission for launching criminal proceedings against him.
Dhankhar, during a meeting with the executive committee members of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association led by president, Sartej Narula at Punjab Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on Friday morning, also said that the present government at the Centre is ‘handicapped’ in the given scenario and can’t register an FIR due to a Supreme Court judgment, passed three decades ago.
“It (judgment) provides virtually impregnable cover. Unless permission is accorded by a functionary at the highest level in the judiciary, an FIR can’t be registered,” Dhankhar remarked.
“The permission (to register FIR) should have been given on the very first day. …A compulsive, expedient situation should have been there because the mechanism evolved is the same. Second, it could have been given at least after the report,” added Dhankhar, who arrived in Chandigarh on Thursday.
After spending a day at the Punjab Raj Bhawan, he headed to Himachal Pradesh.
Dhankhar emphasised that judges need protection because they make ‘tough decisions and cannot be subjected to investigation in a routine way. “But the facts of this case warranted a proper probe,” he stated.
While referring to the panel of three judges set up by the Supreme Court, Dhankhar, questioned the sanctity of the committee and said, whether the report submitted is ‘actionable’ and whether this committee can substitute for an FIR investigation.
Dhankhar equated those indulging in corruption with ‘sharks’ and said that they must not be spared.
He underlined that no other constitutional office has immunity from facing criminal action while in office.
The President and the governors have immunity from prosecution only till they are in office, he further remarked.
Dhankhar appreciated the role of Bar associations in the country in picking up this issue and said that lawyers are ‘watchdogs’ of democracy.
On May 5, a three-member in-house enquiry committee submitted its report to the then CJI confirming that cash was indeed found at the residence of justice Varma in March, then a sitting Delhi high court judge.
Acting on the same, then CJI Sanjiv Khanna initiated the process for the removal of justice Varma by writing to the government. Reports suggest that the government might move an impeachment motion against justice Varma in the Monsoon session.
