Justice Yashwant Varma, the second seniormost judge of the Delhi High Court, has no option but to resign from the judiciary if he wants to restore its eminence. While denying that cash was found in his bungalow, he rightly pointed out his credibility has been shattered forever. When judges lie, justice dies.

CJI Sanjiv Khanna’s directive to the Delhi High Court chief justice, D.K. Upadhyay, not to assign any judicial work to this tainted judge will further erode his credibility, so that if he continues as a judge in the Allahabad High Court (AHC), where the collegium decided to transfer him, its credibility will be eroded. This corruption case against Justice Yashwant Varma will test the mettle of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay, who is just 60 years old and is due for elevation to the Supreme Court. He was earlier the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.

The immunity given to all judges in this country by the Supreme Court in K. Veeraswami versus Union of India, a landmark judgement delivered in 1991, wherein no investigative agency could register an FIR against a sitting judge without the Chief Justice of India’s concurrence, protects both honest and dishonest judges.

This is why the CBI cannot charge-sheet Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court without the approval of CJI Sanjiv Khanna. But CJI Khanna has just 49 days to demit office, after which Justice Bhushan Gavai will succeed him as the 52nd CJI. The view taken by Justice Bhushan Gavai and his collegium may not be identical to that taken by his predecessor.

As of today, a three-judge inquiry committee comprising the chief justices........

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