Recovery of cash: SC Collegium recommends transfer of Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court
Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court – who has been in the eye of a storm over alleged recovery of unaccounted cash from his residence during a fire on March 14 – was on Monday recommended to be transferred to the Allahabad High Court – his parent high court.
The decision was taken by the five-member Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna after considering the issue for the second time on Monday. The other four members of the Collegium are Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice AS Oka and Justice Vikram Nath.
"The Supreme Court Collegium in its meetings held on 20th and 24th March 2025 has recommended repatriation of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad," a Collegium resolution published on the Supreme Court website said.
The Supreme Court had on Friday sought to dispel “misinformation and rumours” about the proposal to transfer him, saying it was still under consideration and that it was not linked to the in-house inquiry initiated by the Delhi High Court Chief Justice.
The Centre is expected to issue a formal order soon notifying Justice Varma’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court where lawyers were up in arms against the decision to repatriate him to his parent high court. They have decided to resort to indefinite strike from Tuesday.
"The High Court Bar Association opposes any proposed transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad High Court or its Lucknow bench or to any other High Court,” Allahabad High Court Bar Association president Anil Tiwari said in Prayagraj, urging the CJI to "immediately recommend" to the government to initiate removal proceedings against him. Tiwari also demanded scrutiny of Justice Varma’s judgments.
Earlier in the day, Delhi high court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay removed Justice Varma from judicial duties with immediate effect. “In view of the recent events, the judicial work from Hon’ble Mr Yashwant Varma is withdrawn with “immediate effect” till further orders,” a Delhi High Court circular stated.
While forming a three-judge committee consisting of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court to investigate allegations of discovery of unaccounted cash at Justice Varma’s residence, CJI Khanna had on Saturday asked the Delhi High Court Chief Justice not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma for the time being.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court on Saturday uploaded on its website the Delhi High Court Chief Justice’s report containing photos and videos of the alleged discovery of cash from Justice Varma’s residence, along with Justice Varma’s response denying the allegations.
If the three-judge committee indicts Justice Varma, the CJI can advise him to resign or to seek voluntary retirement and if the judge in question does not heed to his advice, the CJI would intimate the President and the Prime Minister of the findings of the committee, warranting initiation of proceedings for his removal.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court lawyer Mathews Nedumpara on Monday filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking registration of an FIR against the judge. He has also challenged the CJI’s decision to set up a three-member committee to probe the matter.
Nedumpara has also challenged the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1991 K Veeraswami case in which it was held that a criminal case against a sitting High Court or Supreme Court judge can be filed only after consulting the CJI.
The petitioner sought a direction to the government to take concrete and meaningful steps to combat corruption at all levels of the judiciary, including the enactment of the lapsed Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010.
