Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday publicly questioned the legal validity and constitutional footing of the in-house inquiry conducted by a three-judge committee into the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, who was recently indicted following the recovery of cash from his Delhi residence.
Speaking at the launch of the book The Constitution We Adopted, edited by Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, the Vice-President sharply criticised the existing judicial inquiry framework and called for systemic reforms to enhance accountability and transparency in the higher judiciary.
“Now, just imagine how much labour has gone to Chief Justices of two High Courts. In one High Court [Punjab and Haryana], the coverage area is two states and a union territory. They were involved in an inquiry which did not have any constitutional premise or legal sanctity. Most importantly, it is inconsequential,” Dhankhar said.
He asserted that such inquiries, conducted purely on the administrative side of the Supreme Court, lacked enforceability and public accountability. “The inquiry report may be sent to anyone by a mechanism evolved by the court on the administrative side,” he said, questioning the opacity of the process.
Lack of Evidence and Public Disclosure
Dhankhar raised concerns about the lack of public knowledge surrounding the key findings of the inquiry, including whether any electronic evidence was recovered or whether the money trail had been identified.
“The incident happened, and for a week, the country of 1.4 billion people did not know about this. Just imagine how many such instances may have taken place. Every such instance impacts the common man,” he remarked.
Appreciation for Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna
In his address, the Vice-President commended former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for making the initial report on Justice Varma public. The move, he said, helped restore some measure of institutional credibility.
On May 8, Justice Khanna had forwarded the findings of the in-house committee to the President and the Prime Minister after Justice Varma refused to resign, despite being indicted by the committee.
Call to Revisit Veeraswami Judgment
Dhankhar used the occasion to urge a review of the 1991 Supreme Court judgment in K. Veeraswami v. Union of India, which laid down the mechanism for initiating an in-house inquiry against judges. He argued that the judgment effectively provides “an impregnable cover and immunity” to judges, which in the present case has rendered both the judiciary and the executive powerless.
“A scaffolding of impunity has risen, neutralising all salvos of accountability and transparency,” he stated, adding that the current moment is a “concrete manifestation of what ails the system today.”
Demand for Scientific and Transparent Probe
Calling for a “thorough and scientific probe” into the Justice Varma episode, the Vice-President emphasized that only a credible and constitutionally backed investigation can help the system regain public trust.
“Names are floating today. Several other reputations have become fragile. The system will get purified, it will get an image makeover once the culprits are brought to justice. Everyone is innocent till proven otherwise,” he concluded.
