The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a plea seeking the registration of an FIR against Justice Yashwant Varma following the reported recovery of cash from his official residence in Delhi. The petition, filed by advocate Mathews Nedumpara and three others, called for immediate criminal proceedings, arguing that an internal judicial inquiry had already found the allegations to be First facie true.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan ruled that the petitioners must first approach the appropriate authorities with their grievance. “Before seeking the writ of mandamus, the petitioner will have to seek redressal by filing representation before the appropriate authorities. Therefore, we decline to entertain this writ petition,” the bench stated.

The court also noted that a press release dated May 8 had confirmed that the Chief Justice of India had forwarded the report of the in-house inquiry committee, along with Justice Varma’s response, to the President and the Prime Minister.

Justice Varma, who was transferred from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court amid the controversy, had reportedly refused to resign even after the in-house panel’s indictment. Former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had previously urged him to step down and subsequently communicated the findings to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the petitioners acknowledged that the internal inquiry could result in disciplinary measures, they argued it could not replace the need for a formal criminal investigation under the law. The same group had earlier moved the court in March to challenge the in-house probe and demand police action, but the plea was dismissed at the time as premature.

Now that the inquiry is complete, the petitioners maintain that any delay in initiating criminal proceedings is unjustifiable. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court reiterated the need for due administrative procedure before judicial intervention and dismissed the plea.