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Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 30, 2025

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the arguments raised by Allahabad High Court Justice Yashwant Varma against the in-house committee's inquiry could have been raised before the report came out. "When you know that in-house proceedings can trigger impeachment and you think only parliament can do it, you should have come then and there. The points you are raising are major but it could have been raised before and thus your conduct does not inspire confidence and your conduct says a lot," the bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih said.

"You don't want something to spill here. Let parliament decide. Why should we decide whether it is your money or not. That was not the remit of the committee," the bench added. The apex court is hearing a plea by Justice Varma against the in-house committee report that indicted him after a huge amount of cash was found at his residence during a fire in March.

Justice Varma has also challenged former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna's recommendation to President Droupadi Murmu to initiate impeachment proceedings against him. On Wednesday, the apex court reserved its order on the petition by Justice Varma. The top court said if the Chief Justice of India had material to believe that there was misconduct by a judge, then he can inform the president and prime minister. "The Chief Justice is not a post office and he also has some duties towards the nation," the court added.

Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Justice Varma, argued that the procedure adopted against the judge was in violation of the Indian Constitution. A judge can be removed only as per Article 124 of the Constitution and not through public debates based on a report of the in-house inquiry committee, said Sibal. He argued that the inquiry committee's report cannot form the basis of a motion of impeachment against the judge.

Sibal said that all the actions such as release of tapes, putting it on a website, public fury, public discussion, media interaction, accusation against judge, findings by public discussing conduct of judges were all contrary to the Constitution. On Sibal's contention that there was no cross-examination held in the committee, the top court said that it was a preliminary inquiry and there was no question of cross examination.

The three-member committee formed by the Supreme Court has said that the half-burnt currency notes found in the storeroom of Justice Varma's house could not have been there without the active consent of the judge and his family. It was impossible for the currency to be planted in the storeroom of his residence, which was monitored by the security, it said.

The committee said that while there might be no direct proof linking the high court judge to the stash, "strong inferential evidence" suggested his "covert or active control" over the money, which belied the trust reposed in him. This amounted to serious judicial misconduct, making a case to initiate the impeachment proceedings, the panel said.

In his plea, Justice Varma contested the in-house procedure on inquiry into complaints against judges, saying that it creates a parallel, extra-constitutional mechanism that derogates from the law, exclusively vesting the power for removal of high court judges in parliament. Varma argued that the in-house procedure does not have the safeguards as provided under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968.

The in-house inquiry committee made the findings without giving him a fair opportunity to respond, said Justice Varma. The committee proceeded in a pre-determined fashion and even without finding any concrete evidence, merely drew adverse inferences against him after reversing the burden of proof, he added.

In May, the three-member committee formed by the Supreme Court had submitted its report to then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna following its enquiry into allegations that a huge pile of cash was found at Justice Varma's residence after a fire broke out at his place in March.  End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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