CJI recommends Justice Varma’s removal, sends report to Prez, PM
Days after a three-judge inquiry panel indicted Allahabad High Court’s Justice Yashwant Varma for recovery of unaccounted cash during a fire incident at his residence here on March 14 — when he was a judge of the Delhi High Court, CJI Sanjiv Khanna is reliably learnt to have recommended his removal to the government.
“Chief Justice of India, in terms of the in-house procedure, has written to the President and Prime Minister enclosing therewith a copy of the three-member committee report dated May 3 along with the letter/response dated May 6 received from Justice Yashwant Varma,” the Supreme Court said in a statement on Thursday.
In its report submitted to the CJI on May 4, the three-member Committee comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court found clear evidence to confirm recovery of a huge stash of cash in the storeroom of Justice Varma’s official residence in New Delhi at the time of the fire incident, sources said.
After the indictment, the CJI – who is due to retire on May 13 — had sought Justice Varma’s response to the panel’s report and had also advised him to step down.
As Justice Varma ignored the CJI’s advice, Justice Khanna sent the inquiry panel report to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommending his removal, sources said.
Based on the March 24 recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium, Justice Varma was — on March 28 — transferred from the Delhi High Court to his parent high court i.e. the Allahabad High Court where he has not been assigned any judicial work “for the time being”.
The three-judge panel submitted its report after analysing the evidence and recording the statements of over 50 people, including Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and Delhi Fire Service chief who were among the first responders to the fire incident at Justice Varma’s official residence here at around 11.35 pm on March 14.
The panel was set up by CJI Khanna after receiving an initial report from Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya on the allegations against Justice Varma. Justice Varma had denied the allegations.
India