NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has appointed advocate Karan Umesh Salvi as a consultant to assist the judges’ inquiry committee investigating allegations of corruption against Justice Yashwant Varma.
On August 12, the Speaker initiated the process to impeach Justice Varma from his position as a High Court judge. A Committee was formed to investigate the discovery of cash at Justice Varma’s official residence. The Committee has been constituted under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 and comprises the Supreme Court’s Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Madan Mohan Srivastav and Senior Advocate BV Acharya.
The panel was set up following a motion supported in the Lok Sabha for initiating impeachment proceedings against Justice Varma.
Salvi’s role as consultant will be to support the Committee in legal research, coordinate the proceedings and preparation of the final inquiry report. The findings will be submitted to the Lok Sabha and on the basis of the report, further action could be recommended including potential impeachment.
A fire incident at Justice Varma’s residence in the national capital in March, when he was a judge at the Delhi High Court, had led to the discovery of several burnt sacks of banknotes in the outhouse. He was subsequently repatriated to the Allahabad High Court, and an in-house probe ordered by the-Supreme Court Chief Justice Sanjeev Khanna had indicted him.
Last month, two lawyers Rohan Singh and Sameeksha Dua were also appointed as consultants to assist the three-member committee constituted to investigate the grounds for the removal of Justice Varma.