The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will constitute a special bench to hear Justice Yashwant Varma’s petition challenging the findings of the in-house inquiry committee that indicted him in connection with the cash recovery incident at his official residence.
The matter was mentioned before the bench of Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justices K. Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi. Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi, Rakesh Dwivedi, Sidharth Luthra, Siddharth Aggarwal, and Advocates George Pothan Poothicote and Manisha Singh appeared on behalf of Justice Varma.
“We have filed the petition on behalf of the Allahabad High Court judge. Some constitutional issues are there. I request you to constitute a bench as soon as possible,” submitted the counsel.
CJI Gavai, in response, said, “It may not be proper for me to take up that matter,” adding, “We will just take a call and constitute a bench.”
Allegations Against the Committee
Justice Varma, who was repatriated to the Allahabad High Court from the Delhi High Court, has also challenged the recommendation made by then CJI Sanjiv Khanna to the President and the Prime Minister to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.
In his petition, Justice Varma alleged that the committee acted with bias and failed to give him a fair opportunity to present his defence.
“The Committee failed to notify the Petitioner of its devised procedure, denied him any opportunity to provide inputs on the evidence to be collected, examined witnesses in his absence and provided him with paraphrased statements instead of video recordings (despite availability), selectively disclosed only ‘incriminating’ material, ignored and failed to collect relevant and exculpatory evidence like CCTV footage (despite Petitioner’s requests), denied opportunities of personal hearing, did not put any specific/tentative case to the Petitioner, impermissibly reversed the burden of proof without notice to the Petitioner, and effectively hindered any effective defence by the Petitioner,” the plea states.
Background of the Case
The controversy began on March 14, when a large amount of cash was discovered at the outhouse of Justice Varma’s official Delhi residence during a fire-fighting operation. The recovery triggered a national controversy, prompting then CJI Sanjiv Khanna to constitute an in-house inquiry committee.
The three-judge committee comprised Justice Sheel Nagu (then Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court), Justice G.S. Sandhawalia (then Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court), and Justice Anu Sivaraman (Judge, Karnataka High Court). During the inquiry, judicial work was withdrawn from Justice Varma.
The committee’s report, submitted to CJI Khanna in May, concluded that Justice Varma’s conduct after the March 14 incident was “unnatural” and gave rise to “adverse inferences”.
The panel examined 55 witnesses, including Justice Varma and his daughter, and reviewed electronic evidence like photographs and video footage captured by the fire brigade. The committee held that the cash was indeed found on his official premises.
Finding that the storeroom where the currency was stored was under the “covert or active control” of Justice Varma or his family, the committee concluded that the burden was on him to explain its presence. His “flat denial or a bald plea of conspiracy” was deemed insufficient, and the committee recommended action against him.
Following Justice Varma’s refusal to resign despite the findings, the report was forwarded to the President and the Prime Minister for consideration of impeachment proceedings.
