New Delhi [India], June 17: Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday strongly criticized the Supreme Court’s in-house inquiry against Justice Yashwant Varma, alleging that the judge was indicted without being given a chance to be heard or following any due process.
At a press conference, Sibal said the three-member committee investigating Justice Varma did not disclose the amount of unaccounted cash reportedly recovered from an outhouse near the judge’s residence in New Delhi. He claimed the panel concluded that the cash must have been placed there with the judge’s knowledge, without offering him the opportunity to present his side.
The inquiry panel consisted of Justice Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court), Justice G.S. Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court), and Justice Anu Sivaraman (Judge of the Karnataka High Court).
“You decided against a High Court judge without any inquiry or proper procedure… The judge was not even heard. This is absolutely shocking,” Sibal asserted.
He contrasted the situation with previous impeachment cases involving judges, noting that those cases had clear and undisputed facts—unlike Justice Varma’s case, where details remain contested.
Sibal also accused the central government of shielding Allahabad High Court Judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav, who had faced backlash for allegedly making communal remarks in 2024.
“Unfortunately, the political class is now involved, and this government is protecting a judge who made openly communal remarks. This case is completely different from past precedents,” Sibal alleged.
The controversy stems from a fire that broke out at Justice Varma’s official residence in New Delhi in March, during his tenure at the Delhi High Court. The incident reportedly led to the discovery of large sums of unaccounted cash in an adjacent outhouse, prompting the in-house inquiry.
Tags: Kapil Sibal, Justice Yashwant Varma, Supreme Court inquiry, judicial accountability, in-house committee, unaccounted cash, judicial process, Shekhar Kumar Yadav, communal remarks, Rajya Sabha, Justice Varma cash case, SC judges inquiry, impeachment process, legal controversy, Indian judiciary