NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its decision on a plea filed by Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma questioning the validity of a parliamentary committee to probe corruption allegations leveled against him. The case relates to the seizure of a large sum of cash from his official residence last year.The apex body also refused to give him more time to submit his reply before the committee.A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma rejected Justice Varma’s request for an extension of time to submit his reply to the parliamentary panel, which is scheduled to receive the replies on January 12. Justice Varma has questioned the legality of the committee constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker, arguing that it was untenable under the Judges (Inquiry) Act.Justice Varma has submitted that if a motion for removal of a judge is moved in both Houses of Parliament on the same day, a committee of inquiry can be constituted only if the motion is passed in both Houses.In his case, he argued, the motion was rejected by the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, rendering the committee invalid. He has challenged the admission of the Lok Sabha motion and sought it to be declared “illegal”.The case stems from events on March 14 last year when a large sum of money was found at Justice Varma’s official residence in Delhi, where he was then serving as a Supreme Court judge. He was later transferred to the Allahabad High Court.After the restoration, then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna ordered an internal inquiry and formed a three-member panel, which submitted its report on May 4 and found Justice Varma guilty of misconduct.After receiving the report, the then CJI asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings. When he refused to resign, the report was forwarded to the President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On August 7, the Supreme Court dismissed Justice Varma’s challenge to the internal investigation report. Days later, on August 12, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla formed a separate three-member parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations.During an earlier hearing on December 16, the Supreme Court had agreed to consider Justice Varma’s challenge to the composition of the Lok Sabha inquiry panel. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the judge, pointed out what he termed as a procedural error and submitted that the inquiry committee cannot be constituted unilaterally by the Speaker of Lok Sabha as notices of the removal motion were received in both the Houses on the same day.“If the notices of the motion are ‘served’ to the Houses on the same day, no committee will be constituted unless the motion is passed in both the Houses,” Rohatgi had argued. He added that such a committee needs to be formed jointly by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
