SC disposes of plea for FIR against Justice Varma, calls it 'premature'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a plea seeking registration of an FIR against Justice Yashwant Varma over cash recovery from his residence, calling it "premature", while the Centre approved his transfer to the Allahabad HC.

Disposing of the petition, a division bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan pointed out that an in-house inquiry by a three-judge committee is in progress. "Let the process be over; all options are open for honourable Chief Justice of India (CJI)," Justice Oka said. It "will not be appropriate" for the court to delve into the matter at this stage, he told the petitioner.

The plea had challenged CJI Sanjiv Khanna's decision to initiate an in-house probe by the three-judge committee into the reported recovery of a huge pile of cash from Justice Verma's official residence, instead of a regular criminal investigation by the police.


Also on Friday, the Centre cleared Supreme court collegium's recommendation to repatriate Justice Varma from Delhi HC to his parent Allahabad HC - a move opposed by Bar associations of the Allahabad HC and some other high courts.