The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking the registration of an FIR against Justice Yashwant Varma, former Delhi High Court Judge, over the alleged discovery of illicit cash at his official residence. Sacks of cash were recovered from Justice Varma's house after a fire incident. A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan heard the petition and said let the internal investigation conclude.
If the internal probe finds him (Justice Yashwant Varma) guilty, the CJI will have the option of ordering registration of an FIR or recommending his removal to the government, the bench said. There is no basis to interfere in this matter today. An in-house inquiry is currently underway. There may be many options after the report comes, the court said while rejecting the plea.
On March 22, the CJI constituted the three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into allegations against Justice Varma.
Justice Yashwant Varma consults lawyers
A three-member in-house committee appointed by the Supreme Court is expected to meet Justice Varma this week. Ahead of the meeting, Yashwant Varma, sought legal opinion from senior advocates Siddharth Aggarwal, Maneka Guruswamy, Arundhati Katju and advocate Tara Narula who visited his Lutyens' Delhi residence, sources said.
According to a PTI report, the committee visited Justice Varma's 30, Tughlak Crescent residence here on Tuesday as it commenced its inquiry into the allegations against him. Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman were inside Justice Varma's residence for around 30-35 minutes.
The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma, who has been de-rostered by the Delhi High Court following a directive from Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, to his parent Allahabad High Court.
