The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition that sought the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) and a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe against former Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma. The petition concerned the alleged discovery of half-burnt cash following a fire at Justice Varma’s residence in Delhi in March 2025.
Information was available with The Chenab Times indicating that a Bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe termed the petition a “misuse of the judicial process” and dismissed it summarily, stating, “All for cheap publicity… We are not inclined to entertain this.” The plea was filed by advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay.
The petitioner had argued that resigning from a judicial office does not absolve an individual of criminal liability for possessing unaccounted money. The Supreme Court bench noted that a similar petition had been dismissed previously.
Advocate Upadhyay contended that the earlier dismissal was on technical grounds related to the absence of a formal complaint, whereas in the present case, a complaint had been lodged. Justice Varma had submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu on April 9, facing proceedings for his removal over allegations of misconduct. These allegations stemmed from the recovery of unaccounted, half-burnt cash from his official residence in Delhi on March 14, 2025, during a fire incident.
Following the controversy, Justice Varma was transferred from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court. His resignation, if accepted, would render the proceedings for his removal as a judge infructuous. This move would place him in a category of judges who have resigned amid removal proceedings, such as former Calcutta High Court Judge Justice Soumitra Sen and former Sikkim High Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran.
However, the resignation means that Justice Varma would lose the immunity afforded to constitutional court judges, making him potentially vulnerable to criminal proceedings. He had also withdrawn from the ongoing inquiry conducted by a Lok Sabha-appointed panel under the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968. Justice Varma stated that his continued participation in the inquiry would legitimize a prior investigation where he felt unfairly pressured to explain the source of the cash allegedly found at his Delhi residence while he was a judge of the Delhi High Court.
The committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice Aravind Kumar, which investigated the misconduct allegations against Justice Varma, submitted its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on May 18. Justice Varma had claimed he was a victim of a vilification campaign. He explained that the fire occurred in a storeroom at his official residence during the Holi break in March 2025, while he and his spouse were on vacation. He stated he was informed of the incident only after it had been controlled and was unaware of the alleged cash discovery until later.
Justice Varma had also raised concerns about the procedural fairness of the committee’s proceedings, alleging that witnesses who testified in his favour were dismissed without adequate explanation. Earlier, on January 16, the Supreme Court had declined to interfere with the inquiry initiated by the Lok Sabha Speaker under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, for his removal.
The discovery of unaccounted currency at Justice Varma’s Delhi residence on March 14, 2025, had prompted the then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna to constitute a three-member committee on March 22, 2025, to conduct an inquiry. Subsequently, the then Chief Justice Khanna had recommended Justice Varma’s removal to the government. This recommendation followed an in-house committee report from May 4, 2025, which had indicted Justice Varma for misconduct. The in-house committee comprised Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu (now a Supreme Court judge), Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia, and Karnataka High Court judge Justice Anu Sivaraman.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
