CJI Sanjiv Khanna sends inquiry panel report on Justice Yashwant Varma to president, PM Modi

Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna has forwarded to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi the report of the committee probing the allegations that unaccounted cash was found at the home of Justice Yashwant Varma.

Unaccounted cash was allegedly recovered at Varma’s official residence in Delhi when emergency services responded to a fire there on March 14. He was a judge at the Delhi High Court at that time. The judge said he was in Bhopal at the time and claimed that the cash did not belong to him or his family.

On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that the committee had submitted its probe report to Khanna the previous day.

It was not clear whether the committee’s report recommended that Varma be impeached by Parliament. No Supreme Court or High Court judge has ever been impeached in India.

To impeach a judge in Parliament, a removal motion is required to be signed by 100 Lok Sabha MPs or 50 Rajya Sabha MPs. If the motion is admitted, a three-member judicial committee investigates the matter. The Parliament votes on the impeachment if the committee finds misconduct. If the motion gets two-thirds of the votes, the president is advised to remove the judge.

On March 22, the Supreme Court released a report, including a video and three...

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