(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Thiruvananthapuram ~ Lawmakers in the country are pursuing the impeachment of a high court judge after bundles of charred currency notes were discovered on the premises of his official residence.

Justice Yashwant Varma and his notes

The extraordinary move, admitted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, finds a historical parallel from 190 years ago, when a king in the princely state of Travancore took similarly severe action against a corrupt judge.

At the heart of the current controversy is Justice Yashwant Varma, a senior judge at the Allahabad High Court.

The trouble began on a single day in March, when a startling discovery was made on the premises of his official residence–bundles of currency notes, partially destroyed by fire.

Historical records suggest that a king had taken similar stringent actions against a corrupt judge in the princely state of Travancore 190 years ago.

Swathi Thirunal, the visionary king of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore (south Kerala), ordered to keep a judge in house custody and arrest him later after he was found to be corrupt and passed a judgement“against truth and justice” in a murder case in the year 1835.

The royal proclamation, pronounced by the then diwan (prime minister) Subba Rao on behalf of the king in this regard, is now part of the“Selected Government Edicts” published in 2005 by the Kerala State Archives Department, Government of Kerala.

As per the historical edict, the king urged the people of his princely state to apprehend and hand over to the officials Kunchu Pandalai, a first judge of the appeal court.

It said that the judge had gone absconding after passing the wrong judgement in the murder case.

“Calling on the public to apprehend and hand over to the officers of the Government Kunchu Pandalai Ag. First Judge of the Appeal Court, who was absconding after passing judgement in a murder case against truth and justice,” the nearly two century-old edict said.

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