Cash discovery row: Justice Yashwant Varma moves SC against inquiry report

Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma has moved the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate a report by an in-house inquiry panel, which found him guilty of misconduct in the cash discovery row.

Varma has sought quashing of the May 8 recommendation by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna urging Parliament to initiate impeachment against him.

The government plans to move a motion to remove Varma in Parliament's Monsoon session beginning July 21.

In his petition, Justice Varma submitted that the inquiry "reversed the burden of proof", requiring him to investigate and disprove the charges levelled against him.

Alleging that the panel's findings were based on a preconceived narrative, Justice Varma said the inquiry timelines were driven solely by the urge to conclude proceedings swiftly, even at the expense of "procedural fairness".

The petition contended that the inquiry panel drew adverse findings without affording him a full and fair hearing.

The petition is yet to be listed before a bench for a hearing.

A report of the inquiry panel probing the incident had said that Justice Varma and his family members had covert or active control over the store room where a huge cache of half-burnt cash was found, proving his misconduct which is serious enough to seek his removal.

The three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court conducted the inquiry for 10 days, examined 55 witnesses and visited the scene of the accidental fire that started at around 11.35 pm on March 14 at the official residence Justice Varma, then a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court and now in the Allahabad High Court.

Acting on the report, former Chief Justice of India Khanna wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommending the judge's impeachment.