Cash row: Justice Varma moves Supreme Court challenging inquiry panel report

The Indian Express had reported that then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had on May 4, forwarded the report of the three-member inquiry panel of judges, along with the reply from Justice Varma, to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The report was prefaced with a recommendation to the President to initiate the process to remove Justice Varma.

Justice Varma is also learnt to have challenged the conclusions of the report by the three-member in-house judicial panel.

Appointed by the CJI on March 22, a week after currency notes were found in his official residence where a fire broke out on March 14, the panel, comprised of Justices Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana; G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh; and Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka. The panel had found credence in the allegations against Justice Varma.

With the argument that the findings of the report are without due process and inadequate, Justice Varma is learnt to have questioned every consequential action that flows from the report, including the CJI’s recommendation.

The case is likely to be heard next week. Meanwhile, Parliament is also likely to introduce the motion for removal early next week. As per the constitutional provisions that deal with the removal of a judge and the Judges Inquiry Act, Parliament will have to set up a fresh panel for investigating the allegations against Justice Varma.