Kiren Rijiju starts speaking with political parties for impeachment motion against HC Judge Yashwant Varma

New Delhi [India], June 3 (ANI):  Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has started speaking with various political parties for an impeachment motion against High Court judge Yashwant Varma in the next Parliament Session, government sources said on Tuesday. The Supreme Court had constituted an inquiry committee following allegations of “burnt cash” found at a storeroom of Justice Varma's residence when he was a Judge of the Delhi High Court.

The in-house inquiry committee submitted its report on the issue last month, which has since been forwarded to the Prime Minister and the President of India.

“The Parliamentary Affairs Minister has started speaking to all parties for impeachment motion against HC judge Yashwant Varma,” a source said.  

On May 4, a panel of judges tasked with conducting an internal inquiry into allegations of cash being discovered at Justice Yashwant Varma's official residence submitted its report to the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna.

According to an official communication from the Supreme Court, the three-member committee, comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice GS Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka concluded its investigation and presented its findings in a report dated May 3.

The Chief Justice of India constituted this committee on March 22 to examine the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting judge of the High Court of Delhi.

On April 5, Justice Yashwant Varma was sworn in as a judge of the Allahabad High Court under unusual and contentious circumstances.

CPI general secretary D Raja had said on Wednesday that credibility of judiciary needs to be restored and his party will support the action against Justice Varma.

"Let them bring the impeachment motion. The Judiciary should understand that it has to work within the framework of the Constitution... To restore the credibility of our judiciary, there must be some strong action. We will support the impeachment motion. But the point is, when will it be brought? We raised several critical questions about the money found in the judge's residence, but concrete action has been delayed... Our party will participate in the debate before the Parliament when this issue is discussed," Raja told ANI.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar had last month referred to the cash-discovery row, saying there is no FIR to date.

"We're confronted with the jarring reality. A judge's residence in Lutyens Delhi had burnt notes. There is no FIR to date...Everyone in the country is now thinking whether this will be washed off or fade with time, and they are really concerned. How come the criminal justice system was not operationalised as it would have been done for every other individual?... This issue for which people are waiting with bated breath, the money trail, its source, its purpose," Dhankhar said at an event in the national capital.

"Did it pollute the judicial system? Who are the bigger sharks? We need to find out. Already two months have gone by. An investigation is required to be conducted with expedition. So is the case with the registration of an FIR. I do hope and believe that the Supreme Court acted the very best so far because it had a legacy issue of judgments imparted in the nineties," he added.

He lauded some of the steps taken by the Supreme Court.

"But now is the time to take a call. Partly the confidence has been restored by Justice Khanna. When you put in public domain documentation which people thought will never be shown to them. That was a big step by him to project accountability and transparency. If democratic values have to prosper, I am sure this is a test case. There must be a swift investigation by those concerned with the investigation," the Vice President said. (ANI)