Cash recovery row: Bar associations urge CJI to withdraw transfer, initiate criminal case against Justice Yashwant Varma

Days after cash found at Delhi High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma's residence led to an in-house inquiry by the Supreme Court, the bar associations of Allahabad, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and Lucknow on Thursday urged the Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, to withdraw transfer of Justice Varma as well as all administrative work, in addition to the judicial work which has already been withdrawn from him.

The bar associations from Allahabad, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat and Lucknow signed the joint statement and sent it to CJI Khanna for his perusal. "We place on record the appreciation of steps taken by the Chief Justice of India to embrace transparency and to make public the report of the Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi and other materials on the website of the Supreme Court of India," it said.

The statement also questioned why evidence in the case wasn't preserved. It said, "To set the criminal law in motion as is applicable to any government servant. According to the report of the Chief Justice of the  High Court of Delhi, somebody removed the articles from the premises on March 15 and had the criminal law been sent on motion, the evidence would not have been destroyed. In these kinds of crimes, there would be involvement of others and non-registration of would adversely affect their prosecution.”

The bar associations also requested the CJI to lay down accountability standards for judges of higher judiciary and reassess the current in-house procedure approved by the Supreme Court in 1999 and 'Restatement of values of Judicial Life' as approved in 1997 followed by the Bangalore Principles of 2002.

The Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct, 2002 presents a framework to regulate judicial conduct. It requires a judge to ensure that his or her conduct both in and out of court, maintains and enhances the confidence of the public, the legal profession, and litigants in the impartiality and independence of the judiciary. More importantly, the charter requires a judge to be aware of and understand the diversity in society and treat all equally.

In the statement, the bar associations also said that the presidents of the bar associations will meet at Allahabad in the event of non-withdrawal of the transfer order of Justice Yashwant Varma to show solidarity with the High Court Bar Association of Allahabad.

Last week, the chief justice of India constituted a three-member Committee consisting of Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana; Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh; and Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka for conducting an inquiry into the allegations.

The incident leading to the discovery of cash happened on the day of Holi. Reports suggest that Justice Varma was not at home when a fire broke out at his official residence and family members alerted the fire brigade.  It is learnt that while dousing the fire, the first responders stumbled across a huge amount of unaccounted cash inside a room.

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna assured the bar associations that their demand for the withdrawal of the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma, would be considered. The assurance came after the presidents of six bar associations met the CJI on Thursday.

Allahabad High Court Chief Anil Tiwari told reporters after the meeting, "The CJI assured us to consider our demand over Justice Yashwant Varma's transfer."

Tiwari also added that CJI told them that even after the transfer to Allahabad High Court, judicial work would remain withdrawn from Justice Varma.