NEW DELHI/CHENNAI/BENGALURU, Aug 12: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee to probe charges against Justice Yashwant Varma after admitting a multi-party notice for his removal, setting in motion the process of impeachment of the Allahabad High Court judge.
The inquiry committee comprises Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Karnataka High Court advocate B V Acharya, a 91 year-old veteran.
Hailing from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, Justice Shrivastava was chief justice of the Rajasthan High Court before he was moved as the CJ of the Madras High Court. He was elevated as a judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court in December 2009 and transferred to Rajasthan in October 2021.
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Acharya is a veteran jurist with a career spanning over six decades. He has held the post of advocate general of Karnataka on five occasions between 1989 and 2012.
He was also the special public prosecutor in the disproportionate assets case against late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and others.
Birla said he had received a proposal from 146 Lok Sabha members, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, seeking removal of Justice Varma on July 21.
Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court after burnt wads of currency notes were found at his official residence here on March 14.
After referring to relevant laws and judgements of the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court chief justice found the charges against Justice Varma were of serious nature and followed it up with the “in-house procedure”.
Meanwhile, observing that in-house procedure was scrupulously followed, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed Yashwant Varma’s plea seeking invalidation of an in-house inquiry report finding him guilty of misconduct in the cash discovery row.
Wads of burnt cash were found following a fire in the storeroom of the judge’s official residence in the capital on March 14.
Questioning Justice Varma’s conduct, the top court said he did not object to the photographs or video footage being uploaded and participated in the inquiry without demur.
The bench said even in his representation dated May 6, addressed to then CJI Sanjiv Khanna, there was “no whisper” of the procedure violating any constitutional provision.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih held Justice Varma’s conduct did not inspire confidence, not meriting his plea to be examined.
Justice Varma sought quashing of the May 8 recommendation by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna urging Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against him. (PTI)
