Friday saw the Supreme Court turn down a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) or plea for registering an FIR and an independent investigation of the reported findings of cash in the official residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashvant Varma. The court referred to an ongoing in-house inquiry into the matter as being the reason for its decision.
The plea was filed by lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara who had filed together with three others. The petitioners wanted the police to intervene and challenge the former ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of K. Veeraswami in 1991. Then, according to this precedent, it would be impossible to initiate criminal proceedings against a sitting judge of the High Court or Supreme Court without the prior permission of the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
An urgent hearing on the issue was dismissed by a bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna. When the fire officials were called, a fire had broken out in Justice Varma’s residence in Lutyens Delhi at around 11:35 PM on March 14. Later, there were reports of cash found at the scene and then, due to public and legal emphasis, reports surfaced.
On Tuesday, three members of an in-house committee of the Supreme Court, to which Justice Varma had referred regarding an official inquiry, visited Justice Varma’s residence to begin an official inquiry. This action triggered haste from the judiciary. On the directive of the Chief Justice of India, Justice Varma was also de-rostered by the Delhi High Court and recommended his repatriation to his parent Allahabad High Court by the Supreme Court Collegium.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the plea with an internal investigation, ensuring the court cannot be questioned on judicial independence while following its established protocols for dealing with accusations against sitting judges.
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