Lok Sabha Speaker announces 3-member probe panel on proposal to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma

Justice Yashwant Varma

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced a three-member panel to probe allegations against High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma in the cash-at-home case.

"The members of the Committee include Justice Arvind Kumar, Supreme Court Judge, Justice Maninder Mohan Srivastava, Chief Justice Madras High Court, and BV Acharya, Senior Advocate, Karnataka High Court. The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal will remain pending till the receipt of the report of the inquiry committee," he said.

A large sum of burnt and partially burnt cash was found at Justice Varma's residence after firefighters fought a blaze in March this year.

The Supreme Court last week dismissed Varma's plea for invalidating a report of an SC-appointed in-house inquiry panel, which found him guilty of misconduct.

The Speaker accepted the motion signed by 146 MPs for the impeachment of Justice Varma.  "The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal will remain pending till the receipt of the report," he said.  "It is also clear that after considering this serious and shocking incident and the facts, and taking into account the response of Justice Yashwant Varma and the observations of the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, the opinion has been formed that a thorough investigation is necessary in this matter..."

Justice Aravind Kumar

According to the top court website, Kumar completed  his schooling in Bengaluru. He also studied law from Bengaluru University. During student days, was active as Students Union Leader and was Vice President of Bangalore University Students Action Committee. In 2005, he was appointed as the Assistant Solicitor General of India.

BV Acharya

Acharya (88) was born in Belpu village of Udupi district. He was enrolled as an advocate at High Court of Mysore in 1957 and set up practice in Mangalore.

In 2005, he was appointed as special public prosecutor in the disproportionate assets case against Selvi Jayalalitha, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and others.

He also appeared and argued the case before the Supreme court of India.

Manindra Mohan Shrivastava

Shrivastava enrolled with the Bar Council of MP, Jabalpur, on October 5, 1987 and was part of District Court, Raigarh, High Court. He was the Standing Counsel for the Department of Income-tax, Municipal Council, Raipur and Chhattisgarh State Electricity Organisations, Corporations etc. He was designated as a senior advocate in 2005 and elevated as Judge of Chhattisgarh High Court in 2009. He was transferred to Rajasthan High Court and took oath on 18.10.2021, according to cdjlawjournal.com.