RETIRED Bombay high court judge B G Kolse-Patil Sunday urged the Supreme Court to order a deeper probe into the recovery of cash from the official residence of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma during a blaze a few days ago. “Not just a deeper probe, but the Supreme Court should make all facts of the probe public. The people of this country have the right to know what happens at the highest level of Indian judiciary. There is a pressing need to expose the facts of the case. If the judge is guilty, it should be made public. If the money was planted at his residence that should also come to light,'' Kolse-Patil told The Indian Express. On Saturday, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had formed a three-member committee of senior judges to probe the allegations against the HC judge. “I have heard that the Supreme Court has directed the committee to submit its report after collecting all the facts and details of the case. All these facts are likely to uploaded on the Supreme Court website. This is mandatory,'' said Kolse-Patil. The former judge said,''If it is established that the cash recovery points out to the role of the judge, then the faith of the citizens on judiciary will take a huge beating. This is because the citizens treat judiciary as their God, their parents.” Kolse-Patil said when he was the judge more than two decades back, corruption in judiciary was 5-10 per cent. “But of late or especially in last 10 years, I get to hear from close associates that corruption has increase manifold. Once when I was at a function in Pune, the then State Assembly speaker said corruption has reached the doorstep of the judiciary. When my turn came to speak, I said, corruption has already entered the judiciary. After years, I am forced to say that corruption seems to have engulfed the judiciary,” he said. Kolse-Patil said if the Supreme Court holds a deeper probe into the current case, it will go a long way in putting brakes on corruption in the judiciary at all levels. “After the probe, the Supreme Court needs to take stringent possible action which will send out strong signals at all levels of the judiciary. We need a strong action from the Supreme Court to help maintain public faith in the system. The onus is on the apex court to ensure that public faith is not eroded in our judicial system which is the last hope of our citizens, no matter which strata of the society they are from,” he said. Kolse-Patil said the Supreme Court collegium should also act tough in the matters of appointment of judges. ''The collegium should not allow itself to be dictated by the ruling party. After the SC collegium recommends names of judges for appointment, the government can only seek reconsideration of the names. If the government disapproves of certain judges, then the collegium should again send the names to the government which then has no right to reject them,” he said.
