NEW DELHI, Mar 22:
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday constituted a three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma from whose official residence a large stash of cash was allegedly discovered after a fire, and directed that no judicial work be assigned to him.
CJI Khanna ordered the inquiry after getting a report from Chief Justice of Delhi High Court D K Upadhyay.
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The inquiry committee consists of Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka.
“The Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Mr Justice Yashwant Varma.
“The Report submitted by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, response of Mr Justice Yashwant Varma and other documents are being uploaded on the Supreme Court website,” a statement from the top court said.
The purported discovery of a huge stash of cash happened after a fire broke out at Justice Varma’s Lutyens’ Delhi residence at around 11:35 pm on the night of Holi on March 14, prompting the fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse the flames.
In a statement on Friday, the Supreme Court said the Delhi High Court chief justice had initiated an in-house inquiry against Justice Varma and separately, there was a proposal to transfer the judge to the Allahabad High Court.
“There is misinformation and rumours are being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma,” the statement said.
Upon receiving the information, the apex court said Justice Upadhyaya “commenced the in-house enquiry procedure, collecting evidence and information”.
Justice Upadhyaya was stated to have commenced the enquiry prior to a meeting of the apex court collegium on March 20.
The Supreme Court had said the proposal for transferring Justice Varma was examined by the apex court collegium comprising the CJI and the four seniormost judges on March 20 and thereafter, letters were shot off to the consultee judges of the top court and the chief justices of the high courts concerned, besides Justice Varma.
“Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the collegium will pass a resolution,” the court said.
The main opposition Congress on Saturday said the incident has raised serious concerns and urged the Supreme Court to take strong measures to uphold people’s trust in the judiciary.
It also said the incident should not give a handle to the executive to control judicial appointments in higher courts.
Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala said the incident has shocked the nation, including the legal fraternity.
Venugopal said the country is looking towards the Supreme Court for strong measures, while Surjewala said the top court must find answers on judicial accountability.
The Delhi High Court website shows Justice Varma was enrolled as an advocate on August 8, 1992. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014.
He took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court on February 1, 2016, before being appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021.
He is currently heading a division bench dealing with cases of sales tax, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), company appeals and other appeals on the original side.
The top court has an in-house inquiry mechanism in place to deal with allegations against judges of the constitutional courts.
The procedure entails the CJI, after a preliminary inquiry, forming a committee of three Supreme Court judges to enquire into the matter after seeking the response of the judge concerned.
Based on the report of the panel, further action could be taken.
A judge of a constitutional court can only be removed from office through an impeachment motion passed by Parliament. (PTI)
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