Collegium system flawed, says senior advocate Harish Salve

NEW DELHI: Reacting to the controversy triggered by alleged recovery of cash from Justice Yashwant Varma's residence and his subsequent transfer to Allahabad HC, senior advocate Harish Salve Friday hit out at the collegium system for appointment of judges and appealed for more transparency.

Talking to news channels, Salve said the incident had put the institution of judiciary itself on trial and an in-house probe was not enough. "I've always been a critic of the collegium. It's a stop-gap arrangement. The system must run with transparency and collegium cannot work that way," he added.

Disapproving the decision to transfer the judge to Allahabad HC, he said the collegium system was deeply flawed and asked if the judge was unfit to discharge duty, how could he be transferred to another HC. Salve said had the cash been found at someone else's house, ED would have been at the doorstep. "Moving a judge from one court to another is just convenient, it's wrong," he added.

"If he is fit, let him be in Delhi. And if he is unfit till the cloud is removed, then is he fit for Allahabad HC and not for Delhi HC? What is Allahabad HC, is it a dumping ground? If he is not of doubtful integrity, leave him alone and tell people that the media reports are false," Salve said.