The impeachment process of Justice Yashwant Varma in the cash-at-home scandal is set to proceed after the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the Allahabad
High Court judge's plea challenging the legality of the parliamentary panel probing the corruption charges against him. Justice Varma's plea also challenged the Lok Sabha Speaker's decision to admit a motion seeking his removal. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and SC Sharma, which had reserved its decision on January 8 on Varma's plea, pronounced the verdict. The bench categorically rejected Justice Varma's arguments that a joint committee was required under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, and that the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman did not have the authority to reject the removal motion in the Upper House. "We hold that the petitioner is not entitled to any relief in the present case," Justice Datta stated while delivering the operative part of the verdict. The top court had earlier 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 Varma after a similar motion was rejected in the Rajya Sabha. Now that the top court has rejected his request for further probe, Justice Varma will now appear before the panel and his impeachment proceedings will go on.
Cash-at-home Scandal
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 in New Delhi on March 14.
The then chief justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had initiated an in-house inquiry and constituted a three-member committee comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman.
The committee submitted its report on May 4, finding Justice Varma guilty of misconduct.
After Justice Varma declined to resign, the then CJI forwarded the report and the judge's response to the President and the prime minister, setting the stage for impeachment proceedings.
Subsequently, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla admitted a multi-party motion for Justice Varma's removal on August 12 and constituted a three-member inquiry committee comprising Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior advocate B V Acharya.
(With inputs from PTI)
