Prayagraj. The High Court Bar Association Allahabad (HCBA) has announced an indefinite strike from Tuesday in protest against the Supreme Court Collegium’s decision to extradite Justice Yashwant Verma of the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court.
This information was given by the President, Senior Advocate Anil Tiwari and General Secretary Vikrant Pandey after an emergency meeting of the executive on Monday evening. The officials said, “In line with the decision taken in the emergency meeting held today due to the changed situation, we advocates will abstain from judicial work from Tuesday 25 March till further notice.”
Earlier, in the general meeting held in the historic library after lunch break in the afternoon, a resolution was passed to impeach Justice Yashwant Verma as well as to get the case of burning of cash in his government residence investigated by other agencies besides the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
It is also demanded that the decisions taken by Yashwant Verma as a Justice should be reviewed.
Case of Rs 15 crore cash burning in fire
Senior Justice of Delhi High Court Yashwant Verma has previously been a Justice in Allahabad High Court. After the case of Rs 15 crore cash burning in fire at his government residence in Delhi came to light, the Supreme Court has ordered an inquiry against him.
A panel of justices of three High Courts has been formed. Along with this, in the meeting of the Collegium on Monday, it was again recommended that Justice Verma will be extradited to Allahabad High Court.
The information about this decision further increased the anger of the High Court Bar Association Allahabad (HBCA), an organization of advocates, which has been agitated for the last few days. An indefinite strike was announced in an emergency meeting in a hurry.
According to the resolution passed in the general meeting, the Bar Association believes that immediate steps should be taken to impeach the guilty judge. It would be appropriate to say that after this incident, the judiciary, especially the High Court and the Supreme Court, may not be able to claim high moral ground. On the panel of judges of three high courts, which was formed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on March 22 to initiate an internal inquiry, the HCBA said, “This is not enough as judges cannot be judges in their own case. We can only hope and believe that this in-house inquiry will not be a cover-up to save Justice Verma.”
Collegium targeted
The HBCA has targeted the collegium. The resolution said, “In no other country in the world do judges appoint judges or judges appoint judges. This is happening only in India through the collegium system. The weak executive is following it.” It was reiterated that the Allahabad High Court is not a dumping ground for corrupt and tainted judges and this will be opposed with full force. The CJI was also urged to allow the registration of an FIR against Justice Verma.
It also said that the case is not of a petty criminal but the conduct of a sitting judge of the High Court, which has shocked the nation and the very functionality of the Constitution is at stake. Justice Yashwant Verma’s continuation in office is dangerous for democracy, it has destroyed ‘public confidence’, the only power available to the judicial system. If confidence is lost, everything is lost.’
Normally, judges are granted immunity from criminal prosecution only for acts done in their professional capacity, since this is not such a case. Therefore, Justice Verma should not be exempted from criminal investigation. The resolution calls for a review of all decisions of Justice Verma and radical changes in the collegium system.
