Yashwant Varma cash row: Supreme Court rejects RTI plea for in-house report, CJI’s letters

The Supreme Court administration has rejected a plea seeking, under the Right to Information Act, the report of the apex court-appointed committee that indicted Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma in the cash discovery row.

The RTI application had also sought the communication of the then-chief justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter.

The apex court administration apparently referred to the confidentiality of the communication and rejected the RTI application on grounds that it may violate parliamentary privilege also.

Earlier in May, then-CJI Khanna had written to the President and the Prime Minister, besides sharing the report of the committee along with the response received from Justice Varma.

Now, it is up to the executive and Parliament to decide the future course of action.

The in-house procedure entails that the CJI writes to President and the Prime Minister for impeachment if advice to the judge to resign is not complied with.

"[The] Chief Justice of India, in terms of the in-house procedure, has written to [the] President of India and the Prime Minister of India enclosing therewith copy of the three-member committee report dated May 3 along with the letter/response dated May 6 received from Justice Yashwant Varma," the apex court said in a statement on 8 May.

The apex court-appointed panel confirmed the cash discovery allegations against Justice Varma in its inquiry report, sources previously said.

The three-member panel was comprised of Punjab and Haryana High Court chief justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court chief justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court. The report was finalised on 3 May.

Sources had also said that then-CJI Khanna nudged Justice Varma to step down in view of the critical findings in the report, which was forwarded to the judge for his response, in line with the principle of natural justice.

The panel analysed evidence and recorded the statements of over 50 people, including Delhi Police commissioner Sanjay Arora and the Delhi Fire Service chief, who were among the first responders to the fire incident at Justice Varma's official residence in Lutyen's Delhi at 11:35 p.m. on 14 March.

Justice Varma was a judge of the Delhi High Court at that time.

The allegation was repeatedly denied by Justice Varma in his response to the Delhi High Court chief justice and to the apex court-appointed panel.

The controversy was raised following a news report on the cash discovery and led to several steps, including a preliminary inquiry by Delhi High Court chief justice D.K. Upadhyaya, judicial work being taken away from Justice Varma in the Delhi High Court and later his transfer to the Allahabad High Court sans judicial work.

On 24 March, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court.

On 28 March, the top court also asked the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court not to assign any judicial work for now to Justice Varma.