Justice Varma moves top court as Parl gears up for impeachment

Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court has moved the Supreme Court challenging an in-house committee report that indicted him for recovery of unaccounted cash at his official residence in New Delhi during a fire incident on March 14 when he was a judge of the Delhi High Court.

In its May 4 report, the committee consisting of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court indicted Justice Varma for recovery of a huge stash of cash in the storeroom of his official residence in New Delhi.

The then CJI Justice Sanjiv Khanna on May 8 wrote to the President and the Prime Minister recommending Justice Varma’s removal. Filed days before the July 21 commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament during which the government is likely to move a motion to remove him from office, Justice Varma has challenged the in-house procedure on inquiry into complaints against judges, contending it created a parallel extra-constitutional mechanism that went against the law which exclusively vested the power for removal of high court judges in Parliament. The in-house procedure did not have the safeguards as provided under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, he submitted.

The invocation of in-house procedure against him was improper and invalid since it was done without any formal complaint, Justice Varma said, alleging that “unprecedented” public disclosure of the allegations by a press release issued by the top court subjected him to a media trial.

Justice Varma submitted that the committee’s proceedings violated principles of natural justice as the panel failed to notify him of its devised procedure and denied him the opportunity to provide inputs on the evidence. Accusing the panel of proceeding in a pre-determined fashion, Justice Varma said that even without finding any concrete evidence, it merely drew adverse inferences against him after reversing the burden of proof.

What Justice Varma contends…

Declare ex-CJI Khanna’s recommendation for his removal as unconstitutional

In-house SC probe panel created a parallel extra-constitutional mechanism, proceeded in a pre-determined fashion

Procedure violated law that exclusively vested the power to remove HC judges in Parliament

Probe was improper and invalid as it was done without any formal complaint

‘Unprecedented’ disclosure of the charges via SC press release subjected him to media trial

He contended that it was essential to determine who the money belonged to and how much was found. He alleged that CJI Khanna asked him to resign or seek voluntary retirement within an “unduly restricted timeline”, with a warning of initiating the process for his removal.

The fire broke out at 11.35 pm in a storeroom stocked with stationery and domestic articles and two fire tenders reached the spot at 11.43 pm and doused the fire in 15 minutes. It was alleged that unaccounted burnt cash was recovered from the site.

An initial probe report submitted by Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya found substance in the allegations. The top court had made the report public and had also uploaded on its website the documents, including photos and video taken by the Delhi Police substantiating the allegations of the discovery of unaccounted currency. A video later surfaced showing bundles of cash burning in the fire.

The incident led to allegations of corruption against Justice Varma, who denied the accusations and alleged that it was a conspiracy to frame him. The CJI then initiated the in-house probe into the allegations and set up the three-member committee on March 22 to conduct the inquiry. Following the allegations, Justice Varma was transferred back to his parent high court i.e. the Allahabad High Court. However, judicial work has been temporarily taken away from him on instructions of the CJI.