SC Refuses Plea For FIR In Justice Yashwant Varma Case, Directs Petitioners To President And PM

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a petition requesting the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with the discovery of unaccounted cash at the residence of former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma.

A bench comprising Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan emphasized that an in-house investigation into the incident has already concluded, and the report has been forwarded to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as confirmed in a Supreme Court press release dated May 8.

Addressing advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, one of the petitioners, the court said: “You must first approach the appropriate authorities. The President and Prime Minister are in possession of the report. If you're seeking a writ of mandamus, it must follow due process — submit a formal representation first.”

The bench clarified that it was not barring legal recourse but insisted that procedural steps must be followed. “You are unaware of the report’s content — and so are we. You should request the concerned authorities to take appropriate action. If they fail to act, then you can return to the court.”

Nedumpara also argued for a reconsideration of the 1991 **K Veeraswami vs. Union of India** judgment, which requires prior approval from the Chief Justice of India to initiate a criminal investigation against sitting High Court or Supreme Court judges. However, the bench stated that this argument was not pertinent at this stage.

The internal inquiry was conducted by a panel set up on March 22, which included Justice Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court), Justice G S Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court), and Justice Anu Sivaraman (Karnataka High Court). The investigation was launched after large amounts of cash were reportedly recovered following a fire at Justice Varma’s residence. The committee found the allegations to be credible.