Cash Recovery Case: CJI Gavai Recuses From Hearing Justice Yashwant Varma's Plea Challenging Findings Of In-House Committee Report

New Delhi: Chief Justice BR Gavai on Wednesday recused himself from hearing the plea filed by Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma. Justice Varma filed the plea challenging the in-house committee report in the cash recovery case.

The report indicted him over the recovery of a large amount of unaccounted cash at his official residence in Delhi. The matter was presented before CJI Gavai by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal on behalf of Justice Varma for urgent listing, reported Bar and Bench.

Responding to the plea, CJI Gavai said that it was not possible for him to take up the matter as he was also part of the in-house committee. However, the CJI agreed to list the matter.

The CJI was heading a bench which also comprised Justices K Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi. Notably, Justice Varma also sought quashing of the May 8 recommendation by then CJI Sanjiv Khanna urging Parliament to initiate impeachment against him.

The three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court conducted the inquiry for 10 days. The panel reportedly 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 of Justice Varma, then a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court and now in the Allahabad High Court.

Earlier this week, over 200 Members of Parliament (MPs) on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to remove High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma in connection with the cash recovery row. Out of the total MPs, 63 are from the Rajya Sabha and 145 from the Lok Sabha.

The impeachment motion was signed against Justice Varma under Articles 124, 217, and 218 of the Constitution, reported ANI. MPs from political parties, including the Congress, TDP, JDU, JDS, Jan Sena Party, AGP, SS (Shinde), LJSP, SKP, etc, signed the memorandum, reported ANI.

Among the notable signatories are MPs Anurag Singh Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, LoP Rahul Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, PP Chaudhary, Supriya Sule, KC Venugopal, and others.