NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta will hear on Monday Justice Yashwant Varma's petition challenging the in-house inquiry report accusing him of being complicit in sacks of cash found at his official residence and then CJI Sanjiv Khanna's decision to send the report to the President and the PM with the recommendation for his removal.
Justice Varma will be represented by a battery of senior advocates - Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi, Rakesh Dwivedi, Siddharth Luthra and Siddharth Aggarwal.
Since most senior SC judges were part of the collegium and in some way or the other acquainted with the administrative proceedings relating to Justice Varma, who was repatriated to Allahabad HC from Delhi after the discovery of cash at his residence, CJI Gavai has assigned hearing of the petition to a bench led by Justice Datta.
When then CJI Khanna was heading the collegium, Justices Gavai, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath were part of it. Justice Datta is 10th in seniority among Supreme Court judges. CJI Gavai had on Wednesday recused from hearing Justice Varma's petition on the ground that he was part of the administrative process relating to transfer of the judge from Delhi HC to his parent Allahabad HC.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal had requested a bench led by CJI Gavai on Wednesday for an urgent hearing on Justice Varma's petition even as the Lok Sabha speaker commenced proceedings relating to a notice for removal of the judge signed by more than 150 MPs. Sibal had told the CJI that Justice Varma's petition raised some important constitutional questions relating to the in-house report and the recommendation for his removal.
In his petition, Justice Varma has questioned why Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Service personnel, who discovered the cash, did not seize it or prepare a 'panchnama' (statement of witnesses in writing corroborating the discovery of cash), which alone could have been admissible evidence.
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