New Delhi:
The process to transfer Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma is unrelated to the inquiry into alleged recovery of a large stash of cash at his home, the Supreme Court said today. It said the in-house investigation is being done as per the procedure prescribed by the Supreme Court, and the transfer has nothing to do with the investigation.
The Supreme Court flagged “misinformation and rumours” as the reasons why Justice Varma’s transfer to Allahabad High Court was linked to the cash recovery.
“There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma… On receiving the information, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court commenced the in-house enquiry procedure collecting evidence and information,” the Supreme Court said in a press note.
The top court confirmed the “reported incident” happened in Delhi.
The Delhi High Court Chief Justice, who began the inquiry before the Collegium met on Thursday, will give a report today to the Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, the Supreme Court said. “The report will be examined and processed for further and necessary action.”
It said the proposal for transfer of Justice Varma, who is the second senior-most judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent high court i.e. the Allahabad High Court, is independent and separate from the in-house enquiry procedure.
Justice Varma will be the ninth in seniority in the Allahabad High Court.
“The proposal was examined by the Collegium comprising of the Chief Justice of India and four senior most Judges of the Supreme Court on 20th March 2025, and thereafter letters were written to the consultee Judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of the High Courts concerned and Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma,” the Supreme Court said in the press note.
The allegation that a huge pile of cash was found at Justice Varma’s home surfaced soon after a fire incident at his property. Firefighters reached there and controlled the blaze, and that was when they allegedly saw the cash pile. The amount allegedly discovered by the firefighters is not known.
Senior lawyer Harish Salve, who calls himself a “trenchant critic” of the Collegium system, told NDTV it is “not equipped” to deal with cases like the alleged recovery of a huge pile of cash at the home of the Delhi High Court judge. Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Friday, Mr Salve alleged the Delhi fire chief has said there was no recovery of cash from the judge’s bungalow, giving rise to an “odd and murky” situation.
The Delhi High Court website shows Justice Varma enrolled as an advocate in August 1992. He was appointed additional judge of the Allahabad High Court in October 2014. He took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court in February 2016, before being appointed a judge of the Delhi High Court in October 2021.
He is currently heading a division bench, dealing with cases of sales tax, goods and services tax, company appeals, etc.
