New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjeev Khanna has forwarded the report of a three -member inquiry panel, which confirmed the presence of cash at the official residence of Justice Yashwant Verma when he was a judge of the Delhi High Court for the President and the Prime Minister.
Justice Verma is an HC judge in Allahabad and was at the center of dispute after the discovery of cash after a fire at his official residence in Delhi.
Sources told Theoprint that CJI Khanna sent a report on Thursday after Justice Verma refused to go down.
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CJI has also carried forward the reaction of Justice Vama on the findings of the report.
Sources said that the judge had reiterated his stance of cash found from the official premises which he held while serving in Delhi and therefore, refused to resign.
According to an official release issued by the Supreme Court on Thursday evening, the CJI has sent its recommendation and investigation panel reports regarding the in-house process.
While the three-member committee presented its report to CJI’s office on May 3, 2025, CJI wrote to Nyaya Verma, advised him to resign, Theprint has learned. However, in his reply sent to CJI’s office on May 6, Justice Verma remained firm with his stand and chose not to put it in his papers.
The three-member panel formed on March 22 on the instructions of CJI Khanna was under the in-house process adopted by the Supreme Court in 1999. The remit of the investigation panel was to find out whether the charge of discovering cash from the official residence of Justice Verma was true after the fire in his official premises.
In an unprecedented step, CJI Khanna, who was ready for the office on May 13, also made public the report submitted by Chief Justice of Delhi High Court DK Upadhyay, including Nyaya Verma’s response. A video clip of the place where the fire broke out and the burnt cash was also uploaded on the official website of the Supreme Court.
While the investigation was pending, Justice Verma was shifted to his parents’ High Court in Allahabad, where he was sworn in on 5 April. However, he was divided by his judicial work.
CJI Khanna’s report can form the basis for Parliament to launch the removal proceedings against Justice Verma.
According to the Constitution, a judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court cannot be removed in addition to the process of removing most of the people of the house, which should not be less than two-thirds of the present and voting provided by articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution.
The Judge (Inquiry Act), 1968 provides for how to investigate on charges of judicial conduct.
When the speed of impeachment is presented in the house by at least 100 Lok Sabha members or 50 Rajya Sabha members, this investigation is done. The presiding officer of the concerned House will have to install this panel which includes three members.
So far, the removal proceedings have been initiated in two examples. In January 2018, the in-house inquiry inspired the then judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Narayan Shukla to allegedly involve the medical college bribery.
A month later, the then CJI Dipak Misra wrote to the Prime Minister to begin the removal of the judge. But the proposal to remove a removal in Parliament was never transferred and the judges eventually retired on July 17, 2020. Till then he remained in service, but no judicial work was allotted. However, he also continued to draw his entire salary for the period he did not work. In 2023, he was booked in a CBI case for corruption.
Earlier in August 2008, CJI KG Balakrishnan recommended the removal of Judge Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court. He was found guilty of misuse of money, which was derogatory for the High Judicial Office and the Judiciary’s institution. The judge resigned, while the removal proceedings against him were in Parliament.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also read: Why SC refused to search for a pilot against Justice Yashwant Verma in a cash line