Justice Yashwant Varma; Photo of cash allegedly discovered at a storeroom at Justice Varma's house.
Credit: X/@ANI; PTI
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced a three-member panel to investigate the allegations of corruption against Allahabad High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma.
The three-member panel includes Supreme Court judge Justice Arvind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Maninder Mohan Srivastava, and Karnataka High Court senior advocate BV Acharya. The panel will submit a report on the allegations against Varma soon; Varma has been at the heart of a storm after unaccounted cash was found at his home.
Speaker Om Birla informed the Lok Sabha that he had received a motion for the impeachment of Varma by BJP MP Ravishankar Prasad as well as leaders of the Opposition and leaders of the alliance of the ruling party on July 21.
“On July 31, 2025, I received a written notice signed by 146 members of the ruling and opposition parties, including Ravishankar Prasad and the Leader of the Opposition in the House. The notice proposes a motion to remove the current judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Yashwant Varma, under Section 3 of the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968, read with Articles 124(4), 217, and 218 of the Constitution of India,” Birla said.
Birla informed the House that unaccounted cash was recovered at Varma’s 30 Tughlaq Crescent bungalow after a fire broke out. “The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal remains pending till the receipt of the report of the inquiry committee,” Birla said.
Birla said that they have perused several precedents. This includes the provisions of the Judges (Inquiry) Rules, 1969, the judgment of the Supreme Court of India in the case of C. Ravichandran Iyer vs Justice AM Bhattacharya & Ors. [(1995) 5 SCC 457], among others.
“It is also evident that on a reading of the said judgment in the case of Additional District & Sessions Judge 'X' v Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1986, it is evident that the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court found the complaint against Justice Yashwant Varma to be of serious nature and followed the ‘in-house procedure’ envisaged under para 33 of the said judgment,” Birla said. He added that the Chief Justice of India also said that the matter needs further investigation.