NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday initiated internal probe against Delhi high court judge Yashwant Verma after a huge pile of cash was recovered from his bungalow while dousing fire, news outlet Live Law reported.
This comes hours after SC collegium unanimously decided to transfer Justice Verma to Allahabad high court after the incident.
During the a meeting, the collegium decided that the transfer is not the final step and is only a preliminary action, with the authorities considering further actions as per the law.
As per the in-house enquiry procedure adopted by the Supreme Court, when there are allegations against a high court judge, the Chief Justice of India, after a preliminary enquiry, forms a committee of three Supreme Court judges to inquire into the matter after seeking the response of the judge in question. Based on the report of the in-house panel, further action can be taken.
A high court judge can be removed from office only through an impeachment motion passed by Parliament. No judge has been impeached in India’s history, though some faced proceedings and resigned before completion.
Earlier, a fire broke out at Justice Verma’s residence, prompting his family members to call the fire brigade and police. After the blaze was extinguished, first responders found a huge sum of cash in one of the rooms.
The local police reported the matter to their seniors, who escalated it to top government officials. The information soon reached Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, who convened an urgent collegium meeting.
However, some members expressed concerns that merely transferring him could damage the judiciary’s reputation and suggested that he should either resign or face an in-house inquiry, a process that could lead to his removal by Parliament.
