The matter pertaining to alleged recovery of cash from the residence of a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court was raised in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar saying he will find a mechanism for holding a structured discussion on the issue.
Raising the issue in the morning session, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh also sought the Chair’s response on judicial accountability and reminded him about a pending notice regarding impeachment of a judge of the Allahabad High Court. “This morning, we have read about a shocking case of huge amounts of cash unearthed at the residence of a judge of the Delhi High Court,” Ramesh said. He also pointed out that earlier, 50 members of Parliament had submitted a notice to the chairman regarding certain remarks that were made by a judge of the Allahabad High Court. Ramesh said the chairman himself has repeatedly spoken about the urgency for judicial accountability. The senior Congress member also sought to remind Dhankhar that he had directed the Leader of the House on this issue.
“I request that you please make some observations on this and give necessary directions to the government to come up with a proposal for increasing judicial accountability,” he added. On the issue related to alleged recovery of the cash, Dhankhar said what “bothers” him is that the incident happened but did not come to light immediately.
He said if such an incident was related to a politician, a bureaucrat or an industrialist, the person concerned would have become a ‘target’ immediately. “And, therefore, systemic response, which is transparent, accountable, effective, I am sure will be on the way” he said.
The chairman further said he will get in touch with the Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition and find a mechanism for a structured discussion during course of the session. On the impeachment matter, the chairman said he had received a representation from 55 members of the Rajya Sabha.
Dhankhar further informed the members that he has taken all necessary steps to get verification from the signatories to the representation.
“Most members responded positively, helping me perform my duty,” he said, and appealed to the remaining members to respond to the e-mails sent to them.