ASG Raja Thakare Appointed To Assist Lok Sabha Inquiry Committee On Justice Yashwant Varma

Additional Solicitor General of India, Raja Thakare, has been appointed to assist the three-member Inquiry Committee constituted as a part of impeachment proceedings against Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court.

The Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification yesterday for the engagement of ASG Raja Thakare to assist the Inquiry Committee to investigate into the grounds for removal of Justice Varma.

The Committee is constituted under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 and consists of Justice Arvind Kumar of the Supreme Court, Justice M M Shrivastava, Chief Justice of Madras High Court and Vasudeva Acharya, Senior Advocate of the Karnataka High Court.

It may be recalled that Justice Varma has been in controversy after unaccounted cash was accidentally discovered at his official residence during a fire incident. After this, the then Chief Justice of India initiated the in-House procedure and prima facie, the allegations were found to be true, as a result of which Justice Varma was asked to either resign or seek a voluntary retirement.

Since Justice Varma refused, motions for impeachment were given in both Houses of Parliament. In the meantime, Justice Varma approached the Supreme Court twice; firstly, challenging the In-House procedure and the CJI's recommendation for impeachment as causing prejudice to his case/

But the Supreme Court had refused to interfere, stating that Justice Varma participated in the process and when the result was not in his favour, he challenged the proceedings as an afterthought.

Justice Varma laer challenged the constitution of the three-member Committee by the Lok Sabha Speaker. He argued that the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968, contemplates that when a motion is given in both Houses simultaneously, the Speaker and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha have to constitute the Committee jointly. However, this was also rejected recently.

A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said that in this case, while the Lok Sabha Speaker admitted the motion, the same was not done in the Rajya Sabha. The Court said that the provisions of the 1968 Act can't be read in a manner which makes the admitted motion in one House otiose.