The Supreme Court recently refused to make public a copy of the in-house inquiry committee's inquiry report into the recent allegations of cash discovery at Justice Yashwant Varma's residence in Delhi..A copy of the report had been sought under Right to Information (RTI) Act by Maharashtra-based advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa. He also sought a copy of the communication sent by former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to the President and Prime Minister recommending Justice Varma's removal. .The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Supreme Court, Himani Sarad on May 21 rejected the RTI application submitted on May 9, stating that the requested information could not be disclosed due to the criteria laid down in the Supreme Court's judgment in Supreme Court of India vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal."The information cannot be provided in view of tests outlined by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its judgment dated 13.11.2019 passed in Civil Appeal Nos.10044- 45/2010 (СPIO, Supreme Court of India Vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, (2020) 5 SCС 481) viz. independence of judiciary, proportionality test, fiduciary relationship, invasion of the right to privacy and breach of duty of confidentiality etc. with reference to provisions of Section 8(1)(e) and Section 11(1) of the RTI Act, 2005," the Additional Registrar said in the reply..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. Justice Varma and his wife were not in Delhi then and were traveling in Madhya Pradesh. Only his daughter and aged mother were at home when the fire broke out. 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 the three-member committee on March 22 to conduct the inquiry.The committee that probed Justice Varma comprised Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court Justice Anu Sivaraman. The panel started the probe on March 25 and submitted its report to CJI Khanna on May 4..According to sources, CJI Khanna on receiving the report of the in-house committee, asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings.However, since Justice Varma declined to quit, CJI Khanna forwarded the report and the judge's response on it to the President of India and the Prime Minister for removal of the judge.Following the allegations, Justice Varma was sent back to his parent High Court from the Delhi High Court. His judicial work has been taken away while further action is awaited.
