‘Cash at judge’s home’: Allegations like these shake public faith in judiciary, says Harish Salve (IANS Interview)

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) In the backdrop of the alleged cash at home episode involving a Delhi High Court judge, former Solicitor General of India and senior advocate Harish Salve on Friday expressed shock over the claims. He told IANS that insinuations like these shake the public’s faith in judiciary. At the same time, he called the latest episode involving Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court a wake-up call that the system for judicial appointment that “we have today is dysfunctional”.

Here are some excerpts of the interview:

Allegations shake my and public faith in judiciary: Harish Salve

IANS: Do you think the allegations related to cash at home of Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court have shaken public faith in judiciary?

Harish Salve: I was devastated when I read this news. If it shakes my faith in the judiciary, it surely shakes the common man’s faith in the judiciary.

IANS: Does the Collegium’s decision to repatriate Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court add fuel to fire about this conspiracy?

Harish Salve: The Supreme Court, I believe, has clarified that the transfer had nothing to do with this incident. Okay. It may be true, may not be true, but it’s for the public. In the face of all that we have swallowed since morning, it’s hard to believe. I think the only way forward now is his transfer should be suspended, and inquiry ordered.

IANS: Should he stay in Delhi High Court and continue to function?

Harish Salve: I’m sure he will take a few days off. And after taking a few days off because… it’s not a big deal. And the Supreme Court should order an inquiry, and I am making a radical suggestion. The Supreme Court should have a committee of three headed by a judge and two eminent outsiders. Conduct an inquiry into it… it’s a very basic fact.

IANS: What should be the course of action, if the allegations turn out to be true?

Harish Salve: Was any money recovered from his house? The fire chief says there was no money recovered. If money was indeed recovered from his house, then the committee will find him guilty… and then the then the law of the land will take its course. But if the allegations are not true, then a full scale criminal investigation into who planted these reports is required.

IANS: Do you think if the allegations are found true, would the situation call for something like an impeachment motion?

Harish Salve: Not just impeachment. I’m sure he will resign if he’s indicted by independent inquiry. You’re saying there are a lot of loopholes, lot of grey areas? Not grey. There’s nothing grey. It’s all black right now. On the one hand, the newspapers wake you up to the ugliest story in my four and a half decades of the legal profession. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such an ugly story of cash being recovered from a high court judge’s house. Let me tell you, justice Verma is one of the senior most judges. The judge I’ve usually admired always. And I was devastated when I read this news. So, if it shakes my faith in the judiciary, it surely shakes the common man’s faith in the judiciary.

IANS: So, will this again revive this debate about judicial primacy in judges’ appointment?

Harish Salve: Absolutely. This incidents like this are a wake-up call that the system which we have today is dysfunctional. It is not equal to the task we are ready we are living in very turbulent and different times. Today, this is not the 60s, 70s and 80s where by the time news came out, took weeks and weeks and weeks. Today, it is the age of social media. It’s taken on video, released in fifteen minutes. The world knows what happened in your house fifteen minutes ago. Yeah. Five minutes ago, two minutes ago. So, you know, it’s very, very different, and then news goes viral. So we have to cope. We have to live with these times.

IANS: Do you see a need for change in the system?

Harish Salve: Absolutely. And we need a more resolute system, a more robust system to deal with all this. And today, when all institutions in the world, it’s not just India, Donald Trump said, I will not listen to judiciary. All over the world, institutions are under great amount of stress because of the pulls and pressures of the world. I think the judiciary is very a co-equal institution in democracy. Can we live without a functioning judiciary? We can’t. And if we can’t live without a functioning judiciary, we have to strengthen it.

IANS: Does this episode, at least, raise questions that there are no inbuilt checks within the Collegium System for judicial appointments?

Harish Salve: It’s a reminder that we need to restart the discussion. And I see the 500 people whom we have all voted to office have to put aside their political differences. This is one area on which they have to all sit down together, put their heads together, the collective wisdom of the 500 people we have sent to Parliament need to come up with a structure. This is an existential crisis. You have to save this institution.

IANS: The Allahabad High Court Bar Association has been saying they don’t want Justice Varma to be repatriated to that court. What do you say on this?

Harish Salve: If the allegations are true, transfer is the wrong thing to do. If he is not fit to be a judge in the Delhi High Court, how is he fit to be in Allahabad? Don’t treat certain courts like dustbins… there’s a problem here. We move the person there. See, it’s different where sometimes somebody has a relative practising in the court. Then to clear a public perception, you transfer a judge. That’s different. That is no aspersion on the judge. It is just, living up to the principle that justice must not only be done, it must appear to be done.

IANS: And what about the now-dropped proposal to set up a National Judicial Appointment Commission for judicial appointments that could replace the Collegium system? The proposal was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2014.

Harish Salve: There were certain minor criticisms. It can be repaired. What the Supreme Court did is lay down two principles, which I don’t accept at all. The Supreme Court said that the judiciary can be independent only if judges are appointed by judges. I don’t believe that.

Justice J.S. Verma who created the Collegium system in 1993 never said ‘judges should select judges’ in the context of executive versus judiciary. He never said that in that context. And justice Verma went public saying, if I see the way the Collegium system is working, I regret my judgment.

The second proposition is that the law minister can never be on a committee for appointment of judges. I don’t agree. The executive is a vital stakeholder in democracy. It’s one thing to say the government cannot have a say in who will be a judge, it’s another, to say that it’s a flaw to have the law minister as a person on a committee.

IANS: What will be your response if the allegations in this cash in home episode are not proved?

Harish Salve: What a tragedy. If this allegation is false, then a very fine judge’s image is being tarnished. And if that is not a good enough wake up call, I don’t know what else will be. I mean… I would call for very stringent action.

–IANS

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