The Supreme Court of India on Friday refused to hear a petition seeking registration of an FIR against Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma over discovery of cash at his residence. The court said that the petition is premature as the court has already initiated an inquiry into the incident where sacks filled with cash were found at a store room in the judge’s official residence by firefighters and cops after a fire incident on Holi eve.
The petition also challenged the in-house probe being conducted by a three-member committee of three judges formed by the apex court. Rejecting the plea, the bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that and FIR can be registered after the in-house probe is over, but that’ can’t be ordered now.
Justice Abhay Oka told the petitioner, Advocate Mathews J Nedupmara, “Mr.Nedumpara, we have seen the prayers. After the in-house inquiry is over, several options are open. CJI can direct the register of the FIR or refer the matter to the Parliament after examining the report. Today it is not the time to consider this petition. After the in-house report, all options are open. The petition is premature.”
In the plea, advocate Nedupmara said that there is need to review the judgments that shield the judges from regular police investigation. He said that investigation is the job of the police, not the courts. The in-house committee is not a statutory authority and cannot be a substitute for criminal investigations undertaken by specialised agencies, the plea argued.
The plea also asked why no FIR was filed on the day the cash was discovered, why the matter was disclosed one week later, why no seizure mahazar was prepared, and why criminal law was not set into motion.
However, the bench said that it can’t interfere in the matter at this stage. “Let the in-house procedure be over and after that all options are open to the Chief Justice of India,” Justice Oka reiterated.
