The accused judge, Yashwant Varma, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, has reconvened the three-member inquiry panel that was probing the allegations made against him, and the new panel shall become effective since March 6. This is in anticipation of the retirement of Madras High Court Chief Justice MM Shrivastava who was also an original member of the committee and is set to demit office on the same date.
The reformed panel includes Supreme Court justice Justice Aravind Kumar, Bombay High Court chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and senior advocate BV Acharya. The Judges (Inquiry) Act creates such a committee of three people (a Supreme Court judge, a chief justice of the High Court and a prominent jurist), when a motion to have a judge removed is admitted. The committee has the responsibility of framing charges, documenting evidence as well as providing the concerned judge with the full opportunity to provide defence including witness examination and cross-examination.
Justice Varma is under removal process after he was accused of having discovered burnt, unaccounted money at his official residence in Delhi after a fire in March 2025 when he was working as a judge in the Delhi High Court. An earlier panel of scholars appointed by the Supreme Court declared his account to not be satisfactory and suggested that an action be taken.
In July 2025, removal motions were introduced into both Houses of Parliament. Although the Lok Sabha admitted the motion and formed the inquiry panel in August, the Rajya Sabha rejected the motion to admit a similar motion. In January, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the decision made by the Speaker, and the investigation was allowed to continue.
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