SC refuses urgent hearing on plea for FIR against Justice Varma in cash row

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to list for urgent hearing a plea seeking the registration of an FIR against the Allahabad High Court's Justice Yashwant Varma in connection with the cash discovery row.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was urged by lawyer Mathews Nedumpara that it was his third petition on the issue, and it be listed for hearing urgently.

"Do you want it to be dismissed right now?" the CJI asked, adding that it will be listed in due course.

"It is impossible to be dismissed. An FIR has to be registered. Now Varma seems to be asking for that only. There has to be an FIR, an investigation," the lawyer said.

The bench took strong note of the fact that the lawyer addressed the high court judge as Varma'.

"Is he your friend? He is still Justice Verma. How do you address him? Have some decorum. You are referring to a learned judge. He is still a judge of the court," the CJI said. 

"I don't think that greatness can apply to him. Matter has to be listed," the lawyer insisted.

"Please don't dictate to the court," the CJI said.

Recently, the Allahabad High Court judge moved the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate a report by an in-house inquiry panel, which found him guilty of misconduct in the cash discovery row.

Varma has sought quashing of the May 8 recommendation by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging Parliament to initiate impeachment against him.

The government plans to move a motion to remove Varma in Parliament's Monsoon session beginning July 21.

A report of the inquiry panel probing the incident had said that Justice Varma and his family members had covert or active control over the store room where a huge cache of half-burnt cash was found, proving his misconduct, which is serious enough to seek his removal.

The three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court conducted the inquiry for 10 days, examined 55 witnesses and visited the scene of the accidental fire that started at around 11.35 pm on March 14 at the official residence Justice Varma, then a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court and now in the Allahabad High Court.

Acting on the report, former Chief Justice of India Khanna wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommending the judge's impeachment.