How a fire incident lead to recovery of "huge pile of cash" in Delhi HC Judge residence that triggered his transfer

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, has recommended transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma from Delhi High Court to his parent High Court in Allahabad after a "huge pile of cash" was reportedly recovered from his residence.

Justice Varma, who was appointed as a judge of Delhi High Court in October 2021, has landed in a controversy after media reports emerged about cash being recovered from this official residence.

Meanwhile, Justice Yashwant Varma did not attend the court today and his absence was officially announced by his staff in the court this morning.

According to the reports, there was a fire incident at his residence.

At that time, Justice Varma was not in town and his family members contacted the fire brigade and police.

After the flames were extinguished, a "huge pile of unaccounted cash" was reportedly found inside a room.

It has been reported that the local police informed their superiors, who escalated the matter to top government officials.

The revelation ultimately reached CJI Khanna, who took a serious view of the matter and convened a meeting of the five-judge Supreme Court Collegium.

The Collegium decided that Justice Varma should be transferred without delay.While some members of the Collegium felt that a transfer was sufficient, some others opined that merely shifting him to another High Court could damage the judiciary’s reputation and public trust.

There was a view reportedly that Justice Varma should be asked to resign and, if he refused, an in-house inquiry should be initiated as a precursor to possible removal through parliamentary proceedings.

According to the in-house procedure established by the Supreme Court in 1999 to address allegations of misconduct against judges, the CJI is authorized to seek an explanation from the judge in question. If the response is unsatisfactory or if a deeper investigation is deemed necessary, the CJI can form an inquiry panel comprising a Supreme Court judge and the chief justices of two High Courts.