Supreme Court to Hear Justice Yashwant Varma’s Plea Challenging Lok Sabha Inquiry Panel

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma's plea challenging the constitution of an inquiry committee by the Lok Sabha Speaker to probe corruption

charges against him.A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih issued notices to the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker and the secretaries-general of both the Houses of Parliament and sought their responses.The matter was posted for next hearing on January 7.

Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court after burnt wads of currency notes were found at his official residence here on March 14.The top court was hearing a plea filed by Justice Varma challenging the legality of the three-member committee constituted solely by the Lok Sabha under the procedure provided by the Judges Inquiry Act."Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction declaring and setting aside the Impugned Action dated August 12, 2025 of the Hon'ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha in constituting the Hon'ble Committee under Section 3(2) of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 as unconstitutional, being violative of Articles 124, 217 and 218 of the Constitution of India, 1950, and contrary to the procedure established by law under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968," the plea said.The plea has also sought declaring and setting aside the admission of a motion given in the Lok Sabha by the Speaker on August 12 on the basis of the In-House Committee Report as being contrary to law."Consequently, issue an appropriate writ, order or direction setting aside the constitution of the JIC and the Notice dated 26.11.2025 (Annexure P-5) and Letter dated 06.12.2025 (Annexure P-9) issued by the Hon'ble JIC constituted pursuant to the Impugned Action."

https://youtu.be/YlNzqEgv0HU?si=Jajvd_pFSplpp1tP

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Varma, submitted that the introduction of a motion regarding his removal in both Houses of Parliament mandates that the constitution of a three-member committee must have been formed jointly by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and not unilaterally by the Speaker of Lok Sabha."Where the notices of the motion are 'given' to the Houses on the same date, no committee will be constituted, this is peremptory mylords, unless the motion is being admitted in both Houses. And where such motion is admitted in both Houses, the committee shall be constituted jointly by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman," Rohatgi said.Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on August 12 had constituted a three-member committee to probe charges against Justice Varma after admitting a multi-party notice for his removal, setting in motion the process of his impeachment.The inquiry committee comprises Supreme Court judge Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior Karnataka High Court advocate B V Acharya.Observing that the in-house procedure was scrupulously followed, the top court had on August 7 dismissed Varma's plea seeking invalidation of an in-house inquiry report finding him guilty of misconduct in the cash discovery row.Earlier, the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had initiated an in-house probe into the allegations and set up the three-member committee in March to conduct the inquiry.The committee comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman submitted its report on May 4.After receiving the report, the CJI asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings.However, since Justice Varma declined to quit, CJI Khanna forwarded the report and the judge's response on it to the president and the prime minister for removal of the judge.(The content has not been edited by the Times Now staff and has been borrowed from a syndicated feed.)