2 days Ago By Bharti Jain
NEW DELHI: In the Centre’s first public response to the alleged recovery of cash from the official bungalow of Justice Yashwant Varma, home minister Amit Shah on Friday said no FIR could have been registered in the matter without a go-ahead from the Chief Justice of India (CJI). “When no FIR can be registered, how can a seizure be carried out. The FIR can only be registered with the CJI’s permission,” Shah said at the Times Now Summit 2025, co-presented by Dream Sports and powered by Pernod Ricard India.
He also said a panel of judges was looking into the matter and one should wait for its report. The home minister touched upon several other issues including the Waqf Bill, declaring that govt would bring the bill before Parliament in the ongoing session, notwithstanding the protests by Muslim clerics, Islamic outfits and opposition parties. “(Then) Congress govt had passed the Waqf Bill in 2013 without any debate to appease a votebank.
It is against the spirit of the Constitution. We are only trying to bring it in line with the Constitution,” Shah said. “The current law says Waqf Board decisions cannot be challenged in court.
How can this be allowed? Even decisions of the govt are challenged in court,” he said while accusing opposition parties of misleading the Muslim community “simply to consolidate a votebank”. Earlier, while speaking on the alleged recovery of cash at Justice Varma’s residence, Shah said CJI Sanjiv Khanna had, in line with the procedure outlined in a Supreme Court verdict, taken note of the matter and set up a committee of judges to hold an inquiry. “Delhi Police and fire brigade are providing whatever documents are sought by the committee.
They are cooperating with the inquiry,” he added. “The committee of judges will take a call in the matter and place its decision in the public domain. We should wait for the committee’s report,” the minister said.
Shah declined comment on the transfer of Justice Varma, saying it was the domain of the SC collegium. Touching upon the demand for caste census, Shah recalled that the idea of a caste census was rejected by all Congress govts prior to 2011. “A socio-economic caste census was conducted in 2011 but they did nothing with it as it returned 48 lakh castes.
Now, we are using technology to explore all possibilities and ways to correctly capture caste and sub-castes. As and when we take a decision on the census procedures, we will make it public,” he said. On delimitation, Shah reiterated the assurance that “no one will have to suffer even 0.
001% injustice”. “This is the BJP govt’s policy,” he assured even as he questioned the timing of DMK and other parties raising the delimitation bogey when the govt had not announced any move to take up delimitation or notified its procedure. “DMK is trying to bring up issues like language and delimitation, anticipating defeat in the Tamil Nadu polls next year due to the corruption and chaos its govt has brought about in the state,” he said.
On leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s grievance that he was not being allowed to speak in Parliament, Shah said he has ample opportunity to speak as Congress gets nearly 40% of the time allotted for all parliamentary debates. “He wants to speak during other members’ time. This may be OK in party office but not in Parliament that runs as per rules.
As LoP, he should show respect for rules of Parliament and speak during his party’s time in debates,” he said. On Manipur, Shah said ethnic conflicts had been happening in the past too, sometimes lasting 3-4 years. “There is peace in Manipur for the past 7 months.
.. Talks are being held with both communities.
One round was held by MHA and another is expected soon,” he said. Ahead of PM Modi’s visit to RSS headquarters in Nagpur, Shah praised the organisation for training crore of Indians in taking decisions and working while keeping patriotism and nationalism paramount. Stay updated with the latest India news , weather , and Air Quality Index (AQI) updates for major cities like Delhi , Mumbai , Noida , and Bangalore on Times of India .
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