Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that he is working on building a consensus amongst all political parties to move against an impeachment motion against High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.
Speaking to ANI, the Union Minister said that there is no scope for any politicking, as the impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma is a matter related to corruption in the judiciary.
“The impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma is a matter related to corruption in the judiciary. So, there is no scope for any politicking. There is no scope for taking a separate political position for every party. So, we would like to have a united stand; Parliament as a whole will have to come together to discuss this matter and move forward. So, I am building consensus amongst all political parties, and I have started discussions with prominent leaders, and I will reach out to everybody,” he said.
“(The response has been) very positive. As I said, in this matter, there is no scope for taking a political stance by each party. The matter is very serious, and it is extremely important for the nation. So, when we discuss corruption, whether it’s corruption in the judiciary or anywhere, it has to be taken in the best consideration of the nation. We are not going to have a partisan view on that,” Rijiju added.
The Supreme Court had constituted an inquiry committee following allegations of “burnt cash” found at a storeroom of Justice Varma’s residence when he was a Judge of the Delhi High Court.
The in-house inquiry committee submitted its report on the issue last month, which has since been forwarded to the Prime Minister and the President of India.
On May 4, a panel of judges tasked with conducting an internal inquiry into allegations of cash being discovered at Justice Yashwant Varma’s official residence submitted its report to the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna.
According to an official communication from the Supreme Court, the three-member committee, comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Justice GS Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, concluded its investigation and presented its findings in a report dated May 3.
The Chief Justice of India constituted this committee on March 22 to examine the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting judge of the High Court of Delhi.
On April 5, Justice Yashwant Varma was sworn in as a judge of the Allahabad High Court under unusual and contentious circumstances.
