NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday started an in-house inquiry against Justice Yashwant Varma over the alleged recovery of a stash of cash from his residence, initiated by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya.
As per reports, a fire at the judge's house had inadvertently led to the alleged recovery of cash. It said the cash was found initially by fire tenders when the fire broke out in the judge’s residence on March 14. The judge was not present at his home during that time.
However, in a turn of events, the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), in its report, didn't mention recovering any cash from Justice Varma’s house but said that the fire was in stationery and domestic articles in store room and no casualty was reported.
"The call regarding the blaze at 30, Tughlak Road, also the Judge's residence was received at 11.35 pm on March 14 and two fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot. The DFS team arrived at the spot at 11.43 pm," read the DFS report, which is in possession of this newspaper.
The report further said that the fire tenders left at 1:56 am on March 15 after the fire situation was brought under control.
The apex court said that the in-house inquiry will collect evidence and information regarding the allegations against Justice Varma and a report will be submitted to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on March 21.
“The report will be examined and processed for further and necessary action,” the statement of the top court said.
The Supreme Court further, in its statement, clarified that the proposal for Justice Varma's transfer to Allahabad High Court was independent and separate from the in-house enquiry procedure conducted by the Delhi High Court CJ.
It added that there was misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Justice Varma.
"The proposal for transfer Justice Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature, at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure. Moreover, the reported incident has happened in Delhi," the SC said in the release.
It further added that the proposal was examined by the Collegium comprising of the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court on March 20 and thereafter letters were written to the consultee Judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of the High Courts concerned and Justice Varma. Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the Collegium will pass a resolution.
After the controversy broke out, senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikas Singh called the matter "very serious" and said the judge should be asked to resign. He said a judge was expected to be "completely above the board" and it was one profession where there should be zero tolerance.
