Bengaluru advocates’ body urges Chief Justice of High Court of Karnataka to get information on Minister’s allegation that judges were among those honey-trapped

Expressing deep concern about the allegation made on the floor of the Legislative Assembly by Minister K.N. Rajanna that even some judges were honey-trapped, the Advocates’ Association, Bengaluru (AAB), on Monday passed a resolution to urge the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka to look into the veracity and truth of the allegation by writing to the Speaker of the House.

A resolution in this regard was passed in AAB at the special general body meeting convened to discuss the issue of corruption in the judiciary in the light of recent discovery of a large sum of burnt cash in the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma in New Delhi.  AAB president Vivek Subba Reddy shared a copy of the resolution with the media.

Candlelight vigil

Claiming that “corruption is deeply entrenched and there are growing concern of it becoming widespread in all the courts at all levels,” the resolution stated the AAB would hold a candlelight vigil against instances of corruption in judiciary and to inform the Chief Justice of India to take immediate steps to improve the accountability and administration in the Karnataka judiciary.

Stating that collegium system turning to be not a proper and efficient system to curb corruption in judiciary and to hold accountability among the judges, AAB demanded that “drastic modifications are necessary to bring transparency in appointment of judges and accountability of the judges.”

AAB also resolved that the collegium of the High Court of Karnataka should comprise judges from Karnataka to ensure representation to Karnataka State in the collegium of the High Court.

Not helpless witness

In the light of the incident at Justice Varma’s residence, “the collegium of the Supreme Court can no longer stand as a helpless witness and has to raise to the occasion and take radical steps to fully eradicate corruption in judiciary. Major changes in the system has have to initiated by the Supreme Court,” AAB’s resolution has stated.

The AAB has also resolved that the judges of the higher judiciary and all High Courts against whom there are allegations of corruption must be transferred from their parent High Court to other High Courts.