Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday said that the motion to impeach Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma over the unaccounted cash row is a matter for Parliament to deal with and that the Centre was “not in the picture”, PTI reported.

“The Constitution allows Parliament to bring a motion for removal, 100 or more MPs must sign in the Lok Sabha, and 50 or more in the Rajya Sabha,” he told the news agency. “So, this is entirely a matter for the MPs, not the government.”

The remark came a day after Varma moved the Supreme Court challenging the in-house inquiry committee’s report that indicted him in the matter. The committee had reached conclusions without giving him an opportunity to respond, Varma argued.

On Friday, Meghwal also highlighted that the in-house committee, set up by Sanjiv Khanna, the chief justice of India at the time, to investigate the matter, had already submitted its findings.

The law minister said that while it was Varma’s right to challenge the report in court, the power to remove a High Court or Supreme Court judge lies solely with Parliament, PTI reported.

On Thursday, Varma also sought to quash the May 8 recommendation by Khanna calling for his removal.

The developments came ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which will begin on Monday. The impeachment motion against Varma could be introduced during the session, according to reports.

All parties united on impeachment motion: Rijiju 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday said that all political parties, including Opposition Congress, are in agreement on the impeachment motion against Varma, PTI reported.

Rijiju told the new agency that he had spoken to leaders of political party and will also reach out to MPs from smaller parties.

“I don’t want to leave out any member,” he said. “This must be a unified stand of the Parliament of India.”

Rijiju said that the motion to impeach Varma was not driven by the government, but based on consensus among MPs from all political backgrounds, PTI reported.

“Corruption in the judiciary is extremely sensitive and a serious matter because the judiciary is where people get justice,” he said, adding that “no party can be seen standing with a corrupt judge or protecting a corrupt judge”.

The Congress has confirmed that its MPs will back the impeachment motion, PTI reported.

Allegedly unaccounted cash was recovered at Varma’s official residence in Delhi when emergency services responded to a fire there on March 14. He was a judge at the Delhi High Court at that time. The judge said he was in Bhopal when the cash was discovered and claimed that it did not belong to him or his family.

Amid the row, he was transferred to the Allahabad High Court.

On March 22, the Supreme Court released a report, including a video and three photographs, showing bundles of notes that were allegedly recovered from the judge’s home. The court had also set up a three-member committee to look into the allegations against Varma.

The redacted report showed that Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya had written to Varma on March 21, asking him to “account for the presence of money/cash” in a room located in his bungalow.

After Varma declined to voluntarily retire or resign, Khanna sent the final inquiry committee report on the incident to the president and the prime minister.

The committee in its report had concluded that there was “sufficient substance” in the charges against Varma. The report, dated May 3, held that the judge’s misconduct was “serious enough to call for initiation of proceedings for removal”.

However, the report did not address questions about how the fire started, how much money was found, where the cash came from or where it is now.

Under the Judges Inquiry Act, impeaching a judge requires a motion signed by 100 Lok Sabha MPs or 50 Rajya Sabha MPs. If the motion is admitted, a three-member judicial committee investigates the matter. The Parliament votes on the impeachment if the committee finds misconduct. If the motion gets two-thirds of the votes, the president is advised to remove the judge.

Also read: Five crucial questions the report indicting Justice Varma does not answer