New Delhi, 16 December (H.S.): Allahabad High Court Justice Yashwant Varma approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday, contesting the constitutional validity of a three-member parliamentary committee formed exclusively by the Lok Sabha to investigate corruption allegations stemming from burnt cash discovered at his former Delhi residence.

The plea, which prompted the apex court to issue notice to the Lok Sabha Secretary General for a response, argues that the committee—constituted under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, following a motion signed by 146 MPs including Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Leader of Opposition—usurps parliamentary authority and bypasses due process safeguards.

Varma, previously named in a 2018 CBI FIR linked to a sugar mill fraud, faces impeachment over the March 2025 incident at 30 Tughlaq Crescent, where a fire uncovered charred currency notes, triggering an in-house probe by a Supreme Court panel led by then-CJI Sanjiv Khanna.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced the committee—comprising Justice Arvind Kumar, Madras HC CJI Maninder Mohan Shrivastav, and senior advocate B.V. Acharya—in August, deeming the charges grave enough to warrant removal proceedings under Articles 124(4), 217, and 218.

Varma's petition echoes prior challenges to the in-house mechanism as an extra-constitutional parallel to statutory impeachment, seeking to quash its May 2025 report and halt all consequential actions amid Parliament's Winter Session.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar