Supreme Court Submits Report on Allegations Against Justice Yashwant Varma
Investigation into Allegations of Unaccounted Cash
Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna has presented the findings of the committee investigating claims of unaccounted cash discovered at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The cash was reportedly found during a response to a fire at Varma's official residence in Delhi on March 14, while he was serving as a judge at the Delhi High Court. Varma stated he was in Bhopal at the time and asserted that the money did not belong to him or his family.
On Monday, the Supreme Court revealed that the committee had submitted its report to Chief Justice Khanna the day before.
It remains unclear if the report suggested that Varma should face impeachment by Parliament, as no judge from the Supreme Court or High Court has ever been impeached in India.
For a judge to be impeached, a removal motion must be endorsed by 100 Lok Sabha MPs or 50 Rajya Sabha MPs. If the motion is accepted, a three-member judicial committee will investigate the allegations. Should the committee find misconduct, Parliament will vote on the impeachment, and if two-thirds of the votes are in favor, the president will be advised to remove the judge.
On March 22, the Supreme Court released a report that included a video and three images showing bundles of cash allegedly found at the judge's residence. The court also established a three-member committee to investigate the allegations against Varma, comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court.
The redacted report indicated that Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya had contacted Varma on March 21, requesting an explanation for the presence of cash in a room of his bungalow.
On March 28, Varma was transferred from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court. That same day, the Supreme Court announced that the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court had been instructed not to assign any judicial duties to Varma.