Cash discovery row: Justice Yashwant Varma indicted; could face impeachment

Justice Varma now has to resign, and if he does not, the report will be forwarded to the President with a recommendation for impeachment.

New Delhi: A three-member judges' committee has indicted Justice Yashwant Varma, then Delhi High Court judge over a cash haul allegedly found at his residence here during the fire incident on March 15-16, sources said on Wednesday.

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has sought a response from Justice Varma, currently a judge of the Allahabad High Court, to the report received on May 4.

Sources said, the action against Justice Varma could be recommended based upon his response. He may be asked to resign or face an adverse recommendation for initiating impeachment proceedings.

Notably, Justice Varma had earlier denied recovery of any cash and termed the whole episode a conspiracy. "I unequivocally state that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members and strongly denounce the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us," he had said.

The CJI, on March 22, set up the committee consisted of Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh and Ms Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the High Court of Karnataka as part of inhouse inquiry, within days of the incident coming to light.

The committee finalised its report on May 3 and submitted it to the CJI on May 4.

As per the Supreme Court judgment in K Veeraswami Vs Union of India (1991), no criminal case can be registered against a judge of a High court or Supreme Court without the prior permission of the Chief Justice of India.

Justice Varma was subsequently transferred to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court. The judge has since then been divested of any judicial work.