Overview
- Justice Yashwant Varma filed a writ petition in mid-July seeking to quash the May 3 in-house inquiry report and the May 8 recommendation by then CJI Sanjiv Khanna to initiate his impeachment.
- He alleges the three-judge inquiry denied him a full and fair hearing, reversed the burden of proof onto him and drew adverse conclusions without examining foundational facts.
- The panel had found strong inferential evidence that Varma controlled half-burnt currency discovered at his Delhi residence after a March fire, deeming it serious judicial misconduct.
- Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju is engaging Opposition parties to secure the special majority required for a removal motion when Parliament’s Monsoon Session opens on July 21.
- The case has reignited debate over the Supreme Court’s extra-statutory in-house mechanism versus the constitutional removal procedure under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968.