THE THREE JUDGE IN-HOUSE COMMITTEE CONSTITUTED BY CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA SANJIV KHANNA to inquire into serious allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, the then sitting judge of Delhi High Court who was subsequently repatriated to Allahabad High Court is learnt to have found glaring loopholes in claims made by the judge. Reportedly, following a fire incident on March 14 at the official residence of Justice Varma, sacks of burnt currency were discovered.
Sources privy to the contents of the report told The Leaflet that the panel also found that not all sacks of money were burnt in the fire. However, there was no way for it to ascertain the exact amount of burnt, half-burnt and untouched currency note since the room had been thoroughly cleaned out the day after the incident.
The questionable role played by Justice Varma’s then Secretary, a staffer on the rolls of the Delhi High Court, has also been highlighted by the panel.
On March 22, CJI Khanna had set up the committee, comprising Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court G.S. Sandhawalia and judge of the Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman to look into the allegations of cash recovery after the fire incident was brought to his notice. Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya of the Delhi High Court had recommended a “deeper probe” into the allegations against Justice Varma.
