Supreme Court to hear Justice Yashwant Varma's petition against in-house committee report on July 28
The petition challenging the in-house inquiry procedure & the subsequent recommendation of then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, for his removal from office, in connection with the allegation that the half-burnt currency was found in his residential premises in Delhi on the intervening night of March 14-15.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who made an oral mention for an early hearing of the petition, said the petition has raised several constitutional issues with respect to the recommendation made by former CJI Khanna (now retired) for the removal of Justice Varma.
Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai's willingness to judicially examine the question of the removal of Justice Varma comes a couple of days after a removal motion was initiated when Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha members submitted notices to the presiding officers of their respective Houses.
Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, petitioned in the Supreme Court on July 18, 2025, arguing that the in-house inquiry process, which recommended his removal from office, was a 'parallel, extra-constitutional mechanism' designed for the judiciary to usurp the Parliament's exclusive authority.
An in-house inquiry committee of three judges constituted by the then-Chief Justice of India, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, had confirmed that unaccounted cash was found in the gutted storeroom at Justice Varma's official residence after a blaze on March 14 and 15 this year. Chief Justice Khanna (now retired) had forwarded the report to the Prime Minister and President in May after Justice Varma had refused to resign.
The challenge in the apex court contended that the in-house inquiry took away the exclusive powers of the Parliament under Article 124 and 218 of the Constitution to remove judges through an address supported by a special majority after an inquiry under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968.
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