Removal of Justice Varma: LS Speaker Forms Probe Panel

 New Delhi: Setting in motion the process of impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee to probe charges against the Allahabad high court judge after admitting a multi-party notice for his removal. The inquiry committee comprises Supreme Court Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras high court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior Karnataka high court advocate B.V. Acharya.

"The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal (for removal of Justice Varma) will remain pending till the receipt of the report of the inquiry committee," Mr Birla said.

The Lok Sabha Speaker said that he had on July 21 received a proposal from 146 Lok Sabha members, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, seeking removal of Justice Varma.

Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi high court to the Allahabad high court after burnt wads of currency notes were found at his official residence in New Delhi on March 14.

After referring to relevant laws and judgements of the Supreme Court, the Delhi high court Chief Justice found the charges against Justice Varma were of a serious nature and followed it up with the "in-house procedure".

Mr Birla said that unblemished character and financial and intellectual integrity are the foundation of the trust a common person has in the judiciary. "The facts connected in the present case point towards corruption and are eligible for action as per Article 124, Article 217 and Article 218 of the Constitution of India. Parliament needs to speak in one voice on this issue and every citizen of this country should send a clear message about its commitment to zero tolerance for corruption," he said.

The Speaker said that he has accepted the proposal and constituted a three-member committee for the removal of Justice Varma from his post in accordance with Section 3(2) of the Judges (Inquiry) Act 1968.

Earlier, then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had initiated an in-house probe into the allegations and set up the three-member committee in March to conduct the inquiry.

The committee comprising Punjab and Haryana high court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh high court Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Karnataka high court Justice Anu Sivaraman submitted its report on May 4.

After receiving the report, the CJI asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings. However, since Justice Varma declined to quit, the then CJI forwarded the report and the judge's response on it to the President and the Prime Minister for removal of the judge.

Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed Justice Varma's plea against the former CJI's recommendation for his removal.

Justice Kumar, who is a part of a three-member panel to probe charges against Justice Varma, earned his law degree from Bangalore University and enrolled as an advocate in 1987. He was elevated as the additional judge of the Karnataka high court in 2009 and became a permanent judge in 2012.

Justice Kumar was appointed as chief justice of the Gujarat high court in 2021 and elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in February 2023.

Hailing from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, Justice Shrivastava was Chief Justice of the Rajasthan high court before he was moved as Chief Justice of the Madras high court. He was elevated as a judge of the Chhattisgarh high court in December 2009 and transferred to Rajasthan in October 2021.

Mr Acharya (91) is a veteran jurist with a career spanning over six decades. He has held the post of advocate general of Karnataka on five occasions between 1989 and 2012. Mr Acharya was also the special public prosecutor in the disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and others.