No bar on Birla to constitute inquiry panel: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday orally observed that there was no bar under the Judges Inquiry Act on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla setting up an inquiry committee to probe corruption charges against Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma after a similar motion was rejected in the Rajya Sabha.

Expressing prima facie opinion, a Bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma was also not in agreement with the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Justice Varma, that the deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha was not competent to reject the motion following the resignation of chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar. The top court, however, observed that there appears to be “some infirmity” in the manner in which the Lok Sabha Speaker constituted the panel.