New Delhi, 17 April

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday questioned the lack of an FIR in the discovery of wads of burnt cash case from the residence of a high court judge, wondering whether a "category beyond law" has secured immunity from prosecution.

"If the event had taken place at his (common man's) house, the speed would have been an electronic rocket. Now it is not even a cattle cart," Dhankhar said.

He also said the independence of the judiciary is not some kind of "impregnable cover" against inquiry, investigation and probe, and asserted that the surest way to degenerate an institution or an individual is to give a total guarantee against probes.

The Supreme Court ordered an in-house probe into the alleged discovery of half-burnt wads of cash from Justice Yashwant Varma's residence after a fire on the night of Holi on 14 March. Justice Varma has now been repatriated from the Delhi High Court to his parent high court of Allahabad.

Dhankhar also questioned the legal standing of the three-judge panel carrying out an in-house probe into the matter.

Dhankhar said while a committee of three judges is probing the matter, an investigation is the domain of the executive and not the judiciary.

He said the committee has not been set up under any provision of the Constitution or law.

"And what can the committee do? The committee can at the most make a recommendation. Recommendation to whom? And for what?

"The kind of mechanism we have for judges, the only action finally that can be taken is by Parliament (by way of removal of the judge)," he said.

The committee report, Dhankhar said, "inherently lacks legal standing".

"It is now over a month. Even if it is a can of worms, even if there are skeletons in the cupboard, (it's) time to blow up the can, (it's) time for its lid to go out, and (it's) time for the cupboard to collapse. Let the worms and skeletons be in the public domain so that cleansing takes place," Dhankhar said here addressing a group of Rajya Sabha interns.

He said for seven days no one knew about the incident.

"We have to ask questions to ourselves. Is the delay explainable? Condonable?

"Does it not raise certain fundamental questions? In any ordinary situation, things would have been different," he said.

After the incident was confirmed by the top court, it became clear that something required to be investigated, he said.

"Now the nation waits with bated breath. The nation is restive because one of our institutions, to which people have looked up always with the highest respect and deference, was put in the dock," he said.

Emphasising the significance of the rule of law, he said in a democracy purity of its criminal justice system defines its direction.

He said no investigation under the law is in progress at the moment due to the lack of an FIR.

"It is law of the land that every cognisable offence is required to be reported to the police and failure to do so, and failure to report a cognisable offence is a crime. Therefore, you all will be wondering why there has been no FIR," he said.

An FIR, Dhankhar pointed out, can be registered against anyone and any constitutional functionary, including the vice president.

"One has only to activate the rule of law. No permission is required. But if it is judges, their category, FIR cannot be straightaway registered. It has to be approved by the concerned in the judiciary," he said.

He underlined that the Constitution has accorded immunity from prosecution only to the president and the governors.

"So how come a category beyond law has secured this immunity?" he wondered.

Underscoring the importance of transparency, the vice president referred to a decision of a Lokpal bench that it possessed the jurisdiction to investigate corruption complaints against high court judges.

He said taking a suo motu cognisance, the apex court stayed the order on the grounds of independence of the judiciary.

"This independence is not a protection. This independence is not some kind of impregnable cover against inquiry, investigation or probe.

"Institutions thrive with transparency, with there being probe. The surest way to degenerate an institution or an individual is to give total guarantee there will be no inquiry, no scrutiny, no probe," Dhankhar said.