The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed a petition seeking an FIR against Justice Yashwant Varma, from whose residence a huge pile of cash was recovered earlier this month. The top court said a panel of judges set up by the Chief Justice was probing the matter and a decision on registration of an FIR would be taken after the conclusion of the inquiry.
The in-house inquiry is ongoing. If the report sees something wrong, an FIR can be directed or the matter can be referred to parliament. At this stage, it will not be appropriate to entertain this writ petition,” a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said.
The court said the petition, which also challenged the in-house inquiry, was premature. The plea, which was filed by two advocates, Mathews Nedumpara and Hemali Suresh Kurne, pointed out that there were no arrests or seizures after the scandal came to light a week after the incident.
The advocates also said the in-house panel was not a “statutory authority” and thus, could not be a substitute for specialised agencies. They referred to an alleged incident in Kerala where a POCSO charge was made against a then-High Court judge, but an FIR wasn’t registered by the police.
The petitioners said conducting an investigation was not the job of the court and should be left to the police.
Reacting to this, the court said, “After the in-house report, all options are open. The petition is premature.”
On March 14 (Holi), a huge stack of partially burnt notes was found at Justice Varma’s residence after the bungalow caught fire. The Delhi High Court judge was not at his residence. The cash was found in the storeroom of the outhouse by fire department personnel and police.
However, the incident came to light a week later. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court. All judicial work was also withdrawn from Justice Varma.
The transfer decision of the Supreme Court Collegium was objected to by the Allahahad Bar Association, which started an indefinite strike. The bar body said it would not tolerate judges facing corruption charges.
However, after a meeting with CJI Sanjiv Khanna, the bar association said it would reconsider its strike call. The CJI also assured the bar association that its demand for the withdrawal of the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma would be considered.
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