Supreme Court Transfers Justice Yashwant Varma From Delhi To Allahabad HC After Cash Recovery In Fire Accident

The Supreme Court has officially suggested the relocation of Justice Yashwant Varma, a Delhi High Court judge who landed in controversy when bundles of burnt money were discovered at his residence during a fire, back to his original jurisdiction, the Allahabad High Court.

“The Supreme Court Collegium, in its meetings held on 20th and 24th March, has recommended repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad,” Supreme Court's statement was quoted by Indian Express.

After an unfavorable report on the discovery of money and a video allegedly showing firefighters tripping over bundles of cash while extinguishing a fire in a storage room connected to a residence, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna convened a Collegium meeting on 20 March.

Upon being informed about the video, the Collegium made a unanimous decision to recommend his transfer. However, the resolution was not instantly made available online.

However, it was clarified in a 21 March press note that “the proposal for transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court, that is, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure”.

Justice Varma has categorically denied the accusations. In his formal response, he stated that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by him or any of his family members, and he strongly denounced the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to them.

Earlier today, Delhi High Court updated its supplementary cause list, announcing the suspension of judicial duties of Justice Yashwant Varma with immediate effect, citing “recent developments” as the reason.