Acting swiftly on Delhi high court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay’s adverse report against Justice Yashwant Varma on the alleged discovery of a huge pile of cash at his residence, CJI Sanjiv Khanna appointed a three-judge panel, comprising two HC chief justices and one HC judge, to inquire into the charges, while stripping him of his judicial duties.
The panel comprising Punjab and Haryana HC CJ Sheel Nagi, Himachal Pradesh HC CJ GS Sandhawalia, and Karnataka HC’s Anu Sivaraman will “inquire into the allegations against Justice Varma, a sitting judge of the Delhi HC,” the SC said. No time limit has been fixed by the CJI for the panel to complete inquiry proceedings.
In another important decision, CJI Khanna has asked the Delhi HC chief justice “not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma for the time being”, which would mean that he is barred from doing any judicial work till the inquiry panel submits its report to the CJI.
On March 14, the day of Holi celebrations, a fire had allegedly broken out at Justice Varma’s official residence at Tughlaq Road in the heart of Lutyens Delhi. The police and fire brigade rushed to the spot to douse the fire and allegedly stumbled upon a huge pile of cash in one of the outhouses of the bungalow. This was reported to the higher-ups who, in turn, informed the CJI on March 15.
On the same day, the CJI had asked the Delhi HC CJ to submit a report on the incident along with Justice Varma’s explanation about the alleged recovery of cash.
Govt urged to send Justice Varma to Allahabad HC
Meanwhile, with the three-member judicial panel starting its probe into alleged recovery of unaccounted cash at Justice Varma’s official residence, Supreme Court collegium officially recommended to the Union govt that Justice Varma be repatriated to Allahabad HC to keep him away from Delhi and guard against the possibility of him influencing witnesses. Justice Varma would be sitting idle in Allahabad HC as the collegium has decided not to assign him judicial work until an “all-clear” from the inquiry committee.
SC sources said that though the March 22 directive not to assign Justice Varma judicial work was to Delhi HC CJ, it would hold good also for the Allahabad HC CJ who would bar him from holding court. This is meant to assuage the feelings of Allahabad HC Bar Association against his repatriation.
