What’s Next for Justice Yashwant Varma? Supreme Court to Hear Impeachment Plea

Supreme Court to Review Justice Varma's Impeachment Case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition from Justice Yashwant Varma on Monday, contesting his indictment by a three-member internal committee regarding a cash discovery incident.

This hearing comes after 145 Members of Parliament from both the ruling and opposition parties submitted an impeachment notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on July 21, seeking Justice Varma's removal.

According to the court's published schedule, a Bench led by Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih will address the case on July 28.

Justice Varma's writ petition aims to annul the communication sent by former Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna to the President and Prime Minister, urging action against him.

The petition claims that the internal committee acted with bias and did not provide Justice Varma a fair chance to defend himself.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court suggested that the Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai might not hear Justice Varma’s plea after senior advocate Kapil Sibal requested an urgent listing.

CJI Gavai remarked, "It may not be appropriate for me to take up this matter as I was involved in prior discussions," but assured Sibal that a Bench would be formed to consider the case.

Justice Varma has faced scrutiny since the discovery of burnt cash at his official residence on March 14, which raised significant concerns within judicial circles.

Following this incident, he was reassigned to the Allahabad High Court, and an internal investigation was initiated to examine the allegations.

The investigation committee reported that both direct and electronic evidence indicated that the storeroom was under the control of Justice Varma and his family.

The committee also noted that the burnt cash was allegedly removed from the storeroom in the early hours of March 15.

Ultimately, the three-member inquiry panel, which included Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, CJ GS Sandhawalia of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court, deemed the allegations serious enough to warrant impeachment proceedings.

They concluded that Justice Varma's misconduct was substantiated and severe enough to justify his removal under Article 124(4) of the Constitution.