Jagdeep Dhankhar meets Nadda, Kharge to discuss judicial accountability

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday held a meeting with leader of the House J P Nadda and leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on judicial accountability following the alleged recovery of cash from the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma and said they decided to await the outcome of the CJI-appointed in-house inquiry panel before taking up the issue further.

Dhankhar also lauded CJI Sanjiv Khanna and said he had initiated action in a "very impactful, transparent manner".

"It is for the first time since independence that a chief justice has in a transparent, accountable manner put all material available to him in the public domain and shared it without keeping anything with the court," he said.

"This is a step in the right direction. Constitution of a committee by the CJI and the alertness he has reflected are also a factor that needs consideration," he added.

Dhankhar, who has been a vocal critic of the SC's Oct 2015 decision to quash the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, said he would soon convene a meeting of floor leaders of various parties in Rajya Sabha on the issue.

Meanwhile, TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Monday expressed concern that the alleged discovery of bundles of cash in the outhouse of a Delhi high court judge may be used by the Centre to push for greater control over judicial appointments.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Moitra claimed that the veracity of the incident was still being ascertained but sections of media, which she referred to as the "godi media", had gone to town debating how the govt of the day must have say in the appointment process.