SC to hear plea by HC judge Varma next wk

A Supreme Court bench led by justice Dipankar Datta is set to hear next week justice Yashwant Varma’s petition challenging the findings of an in-house inquiry panel that concluded there was “strong inferential evidence’ of his “covert or active control” over a stash of charred currency recovered from his official residence in Delhi earlier this year.

- Utkarsh Anand

According to people familiar with the matter, Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai assigned the case to the justice Datta-led bench on Wednesday evening, hours after Varma’s legal team sought an urgent listing.

The people cited above added that the CJI ordered the matter to be listed “immediately” and that the petition is expected to come up for a hearing on July 28 or 29.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for justice Varma, mentioned the matter before the CJI and requested an expedited hearing. While agreeing to list the plea, CJI Gavai noted that it would be inappropriate for him to be on the hearing bench given his prior involvement in internal deliberations related to the case.

The development comes even as the central government plans to bring an impeachment motion in Parliament to remove justice Varma from office. As the monsoon session of Parliament is underway and political momentum builds for his removal, 149 Lok Sabha MPS and 63 Rajya Sabha lawmakers submitted separate notices in their respective Houses for impeachment of justice Verma on July 21 - the first day of the current session.

Since then, the resignation of former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar has overshadowed the impeachment notices but Parliament is expected to take it up soon.