SC Grills Justice Varma Over Plea Against 'Misconduct' Report In Cash Discovery Case

The Supreme Court on Monday questioned Justice Yashwant Varma over his plea to invalidate an in-house inquiry panel report indicting him over the discovery of huge cache of burnt cash from his official residence during his tenure as a Delhi High Court judge.

Justice Varma in his plea alleged that the panel's findings were based on a 'preconceived narrative' and 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.

What Did Supreme Court Bench Say?

Accoring to PTI, during the hearing, the Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices Dipankar Datta and A.G. Masih, posed several questions to senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who was representing Justice Varma. The judges asked why Justice Varma had participated in the inquiry committee's proceedings if he felt they were unfair. 

They questioned why he didn't challenge a video of the incident earlier and why he waited for the inquiry to be completed and the report to be released before approaching the court. The bench suggested that he might have been taking a chance on receiving a favorable order from the inquiry first.

The top court also raised technical issues with Justice Varma's plea, noting that he should have included the in-house inquiry report with his case documents and needed to correct the list of parties involved in the lawsuit.

In his defense, Sibal argued that under Article 124 of the Constitution, which deals with the establishment of the Supreme Court, a judge should not be subjected to public debate. 

He added that the release of the video on the Supreme Court's website and the resulting public and media accusations go against the constitutional framework that is meant to protect judges., reported PTI.

The court then instructed Sibal to correct the legal papers and submit a simple, one-page summary of his main arguments. The case has been scheduled for its next hearing on July 30.

Background

The case began after Justice Varma filed a plea asking the Supreme Court to cancel the May 8 recommendation from the former Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, who had urged Parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against him. 

This situation arose from an incident on March 14, when an accidental fire at Justice Varma's official residence led to the discovery of a large amount of half-burnt cash in a storeroom. At the time, he was a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court and has since been transferred to the Allahabad High Court.

A three-judge panel, led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, conducted a 10-day inquiry, interviewing 55 witnesses and visiting the site of the fire. 

The panel's report concluded that Justice Varma and his family had active or secret control over the storeroom where the money was found. It stated that this constituted serious misconduct, significant enough to seek his removal from his post as a judge.

 Acting on this report, the former CJI Khanna officially recommended his impeachment to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Justice Varma claims the inquiry was fundamentally unfair. He argues that the process "reversed the burden of proof," essentially requiring him to prove his own innocence.

He alleges that the inquiry panel seemed to have a "preconceived narrative" and that its timeline was rushed to conclude the proceedings quickly, which came at the cost of "procedural fairness."

The petition also contends that the panel made its negative findings against him without allowing him a full and fair opportunity to be heard.