Justice Yashwant Varma.
Credit: Allahabad High Court
New Delhi: The Centre on Friday approved the transfer of Delhi High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad High Court, amid the ongoing in-house inquiry over discovery of cash pile during the fire incident at his residence on March 14.
A notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Justice, said, “In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer Justice Varma, judge, Delhi High Court, to be a judge of Allahabad High Court and to direct him to assume charge of his office in the Allahabad High Court”.
On March 24, the Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna had issued a resolution recommending the Centre to repatriate Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court, from where he was transferred to the Delhi High Court in 2021.
Earlier, judicial work from Justice Varma was withdrawn as a three-member inquiry committee began inquiry into the entire episode.
The in-house committee comprised Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court on March 22 uploaded on its website the inquiry report of Delhi High Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya -- complete with photos and videos -- regarding the alleged discovery of a substantial amount of cash from Justice Varma's residence.
Justice Upadhyaya's report to the CJI contained material about official communication, stating "four to five semi-burnt sacks of Indian currency notes" were found at the Lutyens' Delhi residence of Justice Varma.
Earlier, the judge strongly denounced the allegations in the currency-discovery row and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom of his residence either by him or any of his family members. In his response to the queries by Delhi High Court CJ, Justice Varma has said the allegation of cash discovery from his residence appears to be a "conspiracy to frame and malign him".
The top court’s five-member collegium on March 20 unanimously recommended transferring Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court. The collegium took the decision after the members were apprised of a video purportedly of burning cash at the residence of Justice Varma.
The Allahabad High Court Bar Association opposed the transfer of the Delhi High Court judge to his parent High Court. The bar body, in a strongly-worded statement, has said that the decision of the Supreme Court Collegium raises a serious question as to whether the Allahabad High Court is a trash bin.