Cash at Judge's house: SC refuses urgent hearing on PIL seeking FIR against Justice Varma

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to urgently take up a PIL seeking a direction to the Delhi Police to register an FIR against Justice Yashwant Varma, following allegations of discovery of a semi-burnt stash of cash from his residence during a fire incident on March 14.

Mathews J Nedumpara – who filed a PIL on the issue on March 24 – urged a Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, that the matter should be listed for urgent hearing as it involved larger public interest.

However, the CJI, who has stopped the practice of oral mentioning of cases for urgent listing in his capacity as master of roster, said the PIL would come up for hearing in the normal course.

As Nedumpara said the top court has done a "commendable job" but an FIR was also needed, the CJI said, "Don't make public statements.”

The PIL filed by Nedumpara and three others sought a direction to the police to lodge an FIR in the matter.

The petitioners sought a direction to the government to take concrete and meaningful steps to combat corruption at all levels of the judiciary, including the enactment of the lapsed Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010.

Interestingly, they have challenged the three-member committee constituted to probe the matter as also the Supreme Court’s direction in K Veeraswami versus Union of India (1991) in which it was held that a criminal case against a sitting High Court or Supreme Court judge can only be filed after consulting the CJI.

The CJI had on March 22 set up a three-member in-house committee consisting of Punjab & Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court to conduct an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma. The panel commenced its probe on Tuesday by visiting the residence of Justice Varma, who has denied all the allegations.

The Supreme Court Collegium has already recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma, who was de-rostered by the Delhi High Court, following a directive from the CJI, to his parent, Allahabad High Court.