Underlining “implied responsibility”, the three-member panel of judges, which probed the allegation of cash being found at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma in Delhi when a fire broke out there on March 14, held him responsible for “misconduct”. In its 64-page report, the panel, comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, said when the government allots a residence to a public servant, it “carries with it the responsibility upon the occupant to keep the premises free of items or material which may give rise to suspicion in the eyes of the common man”. The report, indicting Justice Varma, was formally submitted on May 4 to then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna. After the CJI forwarded the report to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government initiated the process of bringing an impeachment motion against Justice Varma in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. “The half-burnt currency notes seen and found during the process of dousing of fire are highly suspicious items and more so are not of small amount or denomination which could not have been placed in the store room without the tacit or active consent of Justice Varma or his family members,” the report stated. “Therefore, it is well nigh impossible for currency to be planted in the store room of a sitting Judge, which is being monitored by static 1+4 guard and a PSO stationed at the gate at all time, apart from the fact that the house abounds with a large number of old and trusted domestic servants with over six staff quarters,” it stated. On the issue of lapses by the police, and why a panchnama was not made by the Tughlaq Road police immediately after the fire was doused, the panel said that while the police were “slipshod” in their action, the issue was beyond the committee’s remit. “The ambit of the Committee is not to find fault with the action or inaction of the fire personnel or the police personnel as discussed above and, therefore, it would not be appropriate for us to comment upon the manner in which the fire personnel or the police personnel have gone about concluding the proceedings without preparing a proper Panchnama or seizure memo depicting the correct situation at the spot which can only be termed as slipshod,” the report stated. Significantly, the panel also specified that its inquiry of 55 witnesses, including Justice Varma and his daughter, followed principles of natural justice but did not allow for cross-examination of witnesses or legal representation. “The nature of the inquiry was to be fact finding without being formal judicial inquiry involving examination and cross examination of witnesses or representation by lawyers in view of the law laid down in Additional District Judge vs. Registrar General High Court of Madhya Pradesh, (2015) 4 SCC 91.” The committee devised its own procedure, ensuring that “all the incriminating material, including the statements of all the witnesses recorded during the enquiry” were shared with Justice Varma and video recording the statements of the witnesses so that these “could not be challenged at a subsequent point of time and also for confirmation whether such statements were in sum and substance recorded correctly”. The report also pointed out contradictions in the statements of Rajinder Singh Karki, who was Justice Varma’s private secretary. According to the report, Karki said in his deposition that “he came to know about the burnt currency in the house for the first time after six to seven days after the fire incident.” Justice Varma had also stated in his earlier statements to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court that his staff was not aware of any discovery of cash on the night of the fire. However, the panel found a video of the incident from an eyewitness in which a voice, identified by several eyewitnesses as Karki's, is heard. The report noted that Karki is heard calling out to Rahil, Justice Varma’s household staff.
