Justice Yashwant Varma has approached the Supreme Court contesting the findings of an in-house judicial inquiry that recommended his impeachment following the recovery of burnt currency from his official residence in Delhi earlier this year.
The former Delhi High Court judge, now repatriated to the Allahabad High Court, has contended that the panel’s procedure lacked adherence to natural justice. In his petition, Varma has argued that he was not afforded a fair opportunity to present his defence and that the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, denied him a personal hearing.
The petition comes in the wake of a 64-page report submitted on 4 May by a three-member panel comprising Justices Sheel Nagu, GS Sandhawalia, and Anu Sivaraman. The report, reviewed by the Supreme Court, held that the judge and his family exercised “covert or active control” over the storeroom in his official residence at 30 Tughlak Crescent, where partially burnt sacks of currency were discovered following a fire on 15 March.
The inquiry, ordered by the Supreme Court and presided over by then CJI Khanna, concluded that the misconduct was grave enough to warrant impeachment. After Varma declined to resign, the matter was referred to the President and the Prime Minister for further action.
Also read: SC panel recommends impeachment of Justice Varma over cash haul
The report alleged that the currency was removed secretly during the early hours of the day of the fire, before public disclosure. Forensic and electronic evidence, the panel noted, supported this claim.
The committee also raised concern over the testimonies of Varma’s domestic staff, who uniformly denied knowledge of the cash or suspicious activity. The panel said these statements, coming from employees who hailed from Varma’s native district and had worked with the family for years, were “not fully credible” when weighed against third-party witness accounts.
“Though Varma denied any wrongdoing, the enquiry panel, by a Supreme Court-constituted committee, had concluded Varma and his family members had ‘covert or active control’ over the storeroom, where the cash was discovered, proving his misconduct serious enough to seek his removal,” the report noted.
The confidential document also highlighted communication lapses, lack of transparency, and raised serious questions around judicial accountability. It criticised the conduct of staff and the delay in escalating the matter to concerned authorities, suggesting an attempt to contain the fallout.
Justice Varma has now sought judicial review of the panel’s findings and the process followed by the in-house inquiry. His legal team is expected to press for quashing the impeachment recommendation, terming it procedurally flawed and unsupported by direct evidence of personal wrongdoing.
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