NEW DELHI: Bombay Lawyers Association has written to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai seeking sanction to prosecute high court judge Yashwant Varma over the discovery of huge cash from his official residence when he was in Delhi. The judge was transferred to Allahabad High Court amidst the raging controversy.Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna had recently written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides sharing with them the report of the apex court-appointed committee reportedly indicting Varma and the judge’s response.Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) in its letter dated June 2 and signed by president Ahmad M Abdi and secretary Eknath R Dhokale sought the sanction to prosecute the judge besides referring to the top court rejecting a PIL on the issue on May 21.The top court called it “premature” and dismissed the PIL seeking an FIR over the matter and asked the petitioners to approach appropriate authorities instead.The lawyers’ body said, “It needs to be kept in mind that litigants and other lay persons are active stakeholders in the legal process.””The applicant is seeking your sanction to initiate criminal prosecution, including the registration of an FIR, against Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge of the Allahabad High Court, under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in connection with the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash from his official residence,” it added.The letter referred to the apex court’s landmark ruling in K Veeraswami case of 1991 which mandates that no criminal case be registered against a sitting judge of the high court or Supreme Court without the CJI’s prior approval.The 1991 judgement, the letter went on to say, held that judges of the high courts and Supreme Court are “public servants” under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and liable for prosecution for offenses such as possession of disproportionate assets.The judgment further clarified that President was the competent authority to grant sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, but such sanction must be based on the advice of the CJI, it added.
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