New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) “Is he your friend? He is still Justice Varma,” Chief Justice of India B R Gavai said when a lawyer referred to Allahabad High Court’s Justice Yashwant Varma by his surname in the Supreme Court.
Appearing before a bench of CJI Gavai and Justice K V Chandran, advocate Mathews Nedumpara sought urgent listing of his plea to direct an FIR against Justice Varma in the cash discovery row.
The bench refused the plea.
The CJI, on the other hand, expressed displeasure when Nedumpara, who has filed at least three petitions on the controversy in the top court, referred to the judge by his surname “Varma”.
“Is he your friend? He is still Justice Varma. How do you address him? Have some decorum. You are referring to a learned judge. He is still a judge of the court,” the CJI said.
“I don’t think that greatness can apply to him. Matter has to be listed,” the lawyer replied, insisting the matter needed to be listed for hearing.
“Please don’t dictate to the court,” the CJI retorted.
“I am only urging,” Nedumpara said.
The bench then said the plea would come up in due course.
When the lawyer persisted with his submissions, the CJI asked, “Do you want it to be dismissed right now?” “It is impossible to be dismissed. An FIR has to be registered. Now Varma seems to be asking for that only. There has to be an FIR, an investigation,” he said.
Justice Varma recently moved the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate a report by an in-house inquiry panel, which found him guilty of misconduct in the cash discovery row.
The judge sought quashing of the May 8 recommendation by former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging Parliament to initiate impeachment against him.
The government plans to move a motion to remove the judge in Parliament’s Monsoon session beginning July 21.
A report of the inquiry panel probing the incident said Justice Varma and his family members had covert or active control over the store room where a huge cache of half-burnt cash was found, proving his misconduct, which is serious enough to seek his removal.
The three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court conducted the inquiry for 10 days, examined 55 witnesses and visited the scene of the accidental fire that started at around 11.35 pm on March 14 at the official residence Justice Varma, then a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court and now in the Allahabad High Court.
Acting on the report, former CJI Khanna wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommending the judge’s impeachment. PTI SJK SJK AMK AMK AMK
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