Supreme Court hears Justice Yashwant Varma petition: LIVE UPDATES

The Supreme Court is hearing the petition filed by Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma challenging the in-house committee report indicting him over the recovery of a large sum of unaccounted cash at his official residence in Delhi.

A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih is hearing the case.

In his plea before the top court, Justice Varma has sought a declaration that the recommendation made by the former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna for his removal as High Court judge be declared unconstitutional and ultra vires.

A fire at Justice Varma's house on the evening of March 14 had allegedly led to the recovery of unaccounted cash by the fire fighters. A video later surfaced showing bundles of cash burning in the fire.

The incident led to allegations of corruption against Justice Varma, who denied the accusations and said that it appeared to be a conspiracy to frame him. The CJI then initiated an in-house probe into the allegations and set up a three-member committee on March 22 to conduct the inquiry.

Following the allegations, Justice Varma was sent back to his parent High Court, the Allahabad High Court, where he recently was administered the oath of office. However, judicial work of the judge was taken away on the instructions of the CJI. 

Meanwhile, a committee comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman, probed the allegations of cash discovery at Justice Varma's residence.

The committee started the probe on March 25 and finalised its report on May 3. It was then placed before then CJI Khanna on May 4.

After the panel indicted the judge, CJI Khanna forwarded the same to the President and recommended Justice Varma's removal.

Varma has moved the top court against the findings in the report and the recommendation of CJI Khanna.

According to Varma's petition, the invocation of in-house procedure against him was improper and invalid since it was done in absence of any formal complaint. He has also alleged that "unprecedented" public disclosure of the allegations via a press release by the top court had subjected him to media trial.

The proceedings before the Committee violated natural justice principles, he has further alleged, arguing that the panel had failed to notify him of its devised procedure and denied him any opportunity to provide inputs on the evidence.

On the allegation of cash discovery at his residence, his petition states that it was essential to determine who it belonged to and how much was found. The panel report provides no such answers, as per Justice Varma.

He has also alleged that CJI Khanna had asked him to resign or seek voluntary retirement within an "unduly restricted timeline" while warning him of initiating the process for removal.

Recently, Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai had recused from hearing the plea filed by Justice Varma since he was involved in the process of initiating in-house action against Justice Varma during the tenure of former CJI Sanjiv Khanna.

Live updates from the hearing today feature here.