The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking registration of FIR against Justice Yashwant Verma over the alleged recovery of large amount of half-burnt money from his official residence after a fire broke out.

A bench led by Justice Abhay S. Oka told the petitioner to file a representation to the Prime Minister and the President of India before filing a writ petition before the Supreme Court.

“File representation before those authorities first calling them to take action, then file writ seeking mandamus”, the bench stated before it dismissed the plea.

After an in-house inquiry panel indicted the judge, the then CJI Sanjiv Khanna had nudged Justice Varma to resign. The then CJI wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Justice Varma refused to resign.

The petition, filed by Nedumpara and three others, called for immediate initiation of criminal proceedings, saying the in-house committee found the allegations against Justice Varma to be prima facie true.

The plea emphasised that while the internal inquiry might lead to judicial disciplinary action, it was no substitute for a criminal investigation under the applicable statutes.

In March, the same petitioners had approached the apex court, challenging the in-house inquiry and demanding a formal police investigation.

However, the top court had then dismissed the plea as premature, citing the pending nature of the internal proceedings.

With the inquiry now concluded, the petitioners asserted that a delay in criminal action was no longer tenable.