A more than three-decade-old judicial order has rendered the government of the day “handicapped” and “provides a virtually impregnable cover” to HC judges against whom an FIR cannot be lodged, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar Friday said. Dhankhar’s remarks came on the Justice Yashwant Varma episode during an interaction with a delegation of the Punjab and Haryana HC Bar Association. “The government of the day is handicapped. It can’t register an FIR because there is a judicial order, which is more than three decades old. It provides a virtually impregnable cover. Unless permission is accorded by a functionary at the highest level in the judiciary, an FIR can’t be registered. why was that permission not given? That was the minimum that could have been done at the earliest occasion,” Dhankhar said, as per an official statement issued after the interaction. The Centre has reached out to all political parties to build a consensus before bringing a motion of impeachment against Justice Varma during the monsoon session of the Parliament. Dhankhar, however, asked if bringing a motion to remove a judge, is the answer. “If a crime was committed, a culpable act shaking the foundations of democracy, why wasn’t it punished? We have lost more than three months, and the investigation has not even been initiated. Whenever you go to court, they ask why the FIR was delayed,” he said. In an apparent reference to the SC-appointed committee in the mater, he asked, “Does the committee of judges have a constitutional sanction? Does it have statutory sanction? Can its report result in any outcome? Can the report, by itself, be actionable? The Constitution says mechanism to remove a judge can be initiated either in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. this committee cannot substitute for an FIR investigation”. Without naming Justice Varma, he said a “very painful” incident happened mid-March in Delhi when “there was a cash haul, obviously tainted, unaccounted, illegal and unexplained” at the residence of a sitting judge. The incident appeared in the public domain after 6-7 days, he said. “. We don’t know if it was an isolated incident. Whenever such a cash haul is made, the system has to find out whose money was it. What was the money trail? Are big sharks (involved)? Did the money influence judicial work?”
