'No legal sanctity': VP Dhankhar questions probe into Justice Varma case

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar criticises the in-house committee's investigation into Justice Yashwant Varma corruption case, calling it legally weak and lacking transparency on evidence

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday expressed serious concerns over the investigation carried out by the three-judge in-house committee regarding the Justice Yashwant Varma corruption allegations. He questioned the constitutional and legal foundation of the in-house inquiry, suggesting it lacked legitimacy. 

“Now, just imagine how much labour has gone to Chief Justices of two High Courts. In one High Court [Punjab and Haryana], the coverage area is two states and a union territory. They were involved in an inquiry which did not have any constitutional premise or legal sanctity. Most importantly, it is inconsequential. The inquiry report may be sent to anyone by a mechanism evolved by the court on the administrative side,” Dhankhar said, as reported by Bar and Bench. 

 

Dhankhar raised doubts about the effectiveness of the inquiry, pointing out the absence of clarity on whether any electronic evidence was recovered. He said that the nation is still waiting for details about the money trail, its intended use, and whether higher-profile individuals are involved.   

 

  “The incident happened, and for a week, the country of 1.4 billion people did not know about this. Just imagine how many such instances may have taken place. Every such instance impacts the common man,” he said. 

“People do not know if this inquiry committee recovered any electronic evidence, and the country is still waiting to know about the money trail, its purpose and the bigger sharks,” Dhankhar said. 

The entire nation was worried. An incident took place on the intervening night of 14th and 15th of March. A nation of 1.4 billion did not come to know about it till after a week.  Just imagine how many such other incidents may have taken place of which we are not in the know.… pic.twitter.com/S7Z3NpnBKh

— Vice-President of India (@VPIndia) May 19, 2025

  Need for transparency efforts and reforms

Speaking at the launch of the book ‘The Constitution We Adopted’ edited by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, Dhankhar commended former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for making the initial report public. This move, he said, helped restore some public confidence. 

On May 8, then CJI Khanna had sent the findings of the in-house panel to the President and the Prime Minister after Justice Varma refused to step down despite the panel’s indictment following the discovery of cash at his Delhi residence.

 

Calls to reconsider SC judgment shielding judges

c urged a re-examination of the Supreme Court’s 1991 judgment in K Veeraswami vs Union of India, which established the current in-house inquiry system. He argued that the verdict provides excessive protection to judges, which in this case, he believes, hampered both the judiciary and the executive from acting decisively, the news report said. 

He warned of a growing “scaffolding of impunity” that undermines accountability and transparency, asserting that this system requires urgent change. 

“Names are floating today. Several other reputations have become fragile. The system will get purified, it will get an image makeover once the culprits are brought to justice. Everyone is innocent till proven otherwise. This incident is the concrete manifestation of what ails the system today,” Dhankhar said, as quoted by Bar and Bench. 

He added that only a detailed, scientific probe could resolve the controversy surrounding the case once and for all.