New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Tuesday announced a three-member committee to probe the corruption allegations against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, setting the ball rolling for his removal.
The committee formed under the Judges’ Inquiry Act, 1968 will consist of Justice Aravind Kumar of the Supreme Court, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior advocate of Madras High Court B.V. Acharya.
Birla informed the Lok Sabha MPs that any further course of action on the proposal will remain pending till the three-member committee submits its report.
Half-burnt currency notes were reported to be found at the official residence of Justice Varma in Delhi after a fire broke out there on 14 March, while he served as a sitting judge at the Delhi High Court. Following the controversy, he was transferred from Delhi back to the Allahabad High Court.
An in-house three-judge inquiry committee had also been constituted by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to probe the allegations levelled against him. On 7 August, the Supreme Court had declined Justice Varma’s plea challenging the in-house panel’s report and former CJI Khanna’s recommendation to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.
The Speaker further informed the House that he had received a memorandum on 21 July from BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, along with 146 MPs of the ruling and Opposition parties.
A notice for the removal of a judge has to have the signature of at least 100 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 50 MPs in Rajya Sabha.
A similar notice signed by 63 Opposition MPs was also submitted to the then Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on 21 July on the first day of the Monsoon session. A political controversy erupted soon after, leading to Dhankhar announcing his resignation from the post of the Vice President on 22 July.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)