Judge In Cash Row Goes To Top Court Over Ex-Chief Justice's Impeachment Plan

NDTV

18-07-2025

New Delhi:
Allahabad High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma, who is at the centre of a controversy over the alleged recovery of a huge amount of cash at his official bungalow in New Delhi earlier this year, has challenged an in-house inquiry report by a Supreme Court-constituted committee that recommended initiation of his impeachment.
The development came days before the Monsoon session of Parliament, during which the Centre was likely to introduce the impeachment motion against the High Court judge.
In a writ petition in the top court, Mr Varma challenged the suggestion made by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, and accused the three-member panel that was set up on the latter's order of drawing adverse conclusions without giving him a full and fair hearing, sources said.
The High Court judge also alleged that the committee failed to investigate the basic facts, especially those related to the alleged recovery of cash on March 14 that is necessary to establish his conviction. He said that even if the cash was found in the outhouse, further investigation is needed to establish ownership, authenticity and other facts, the sources added.
The cash was allegedly found following a fire at Justice Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the fofficials to rush to the spot and douse it. The discovery led to several steps, including a preliminary inquiry by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and taking away judicial work from Justice Varma in the Delhi High Court.
On March 24, the Supreme Court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent High Court.
Two days earlier, then CJI Khanna constituted the committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into allegations and decided to upload on the top court website the inquiry report of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya of the Delhi High Court. It included photos and videos of the alleged discovery of a huge stash of cash.
Justice Varma denounced any insinuation and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.
Last month, the ex-CJI wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the panel's report.
Last month, top government sources said a motion seeking Justice Varma's removal would be brought in the Monsoon session. Cross-party consensus would be crucial, given the constitutional threshold required for the removal (impeachment) of a judge, the sources added.
The Monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to begin on July 21.
Only a handful of judges have ever faced removal proceedings in the country's history - most have resigned before the motion could be carried to conclusion.