In view of the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash worth around Rs 15 crore from the official residence of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, the Supreme Court Collegium on Monday reiterated its earlier recommendation to repatriate Justice Varma to his parent High Court at Allahabad.
A resolution to this effect was today adopted during the meeting of the Apex Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Abhay S Oka as its members.
Earlier on March 20, the Collegium had ordered immediate transfer of Justice Varma to his parent High Court of Allahabad, in view of the huge amount of cash recovered from his official residence on the night of March 14.
Sources said a full court meeting of all Supreme Court judges was held on the morning of March 21, which observed that a punitive transfer would not be enough and some concrete action has to be taken against the judge.
The Apex Court judges unanimously agreed to an in-house probe against Justice Varma, calling transfer as the first step in the process.
On March 22, while appearing before the committee constituted to conduct an in-house probe into the allegations, Justice Varma said that the part of the premises, from where the alleged recovery of cash was made, was not being used by him and his family members.
He further said that the portion was being used as an outhouse storeroom, adding that he was never aware of any money or cash lying in the part, which had been removed from the living quarters.
The sitting judge of the Delhi High Court said that neither he, nor any of his family members, had any knowledge of cash. It did not have any bearing or relation with either him or his family. No such cash or currency was shown to his family members or staff who were present on the night of March 14, he added.
Justice Varma requested the CJI to absolve him of these unfounded charges, stating that the incident has scarred his reputation built over more than a decade as a Judge of a High Court, and left him with no means to defend himself.
Alleging that baseless allegations have been levelled against him on mere innuendos and an unproven assumption that the cash allegedly seen and found belonged to him, Justice Varma said that in all his years as a Judge of a High Court, no such allegation had ever been made in the past nor any doubt cast on his integrity.
Earlier, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had constituted a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the incident.
The members of the committee include Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana; Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka.
CJI Khanna further directed Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma for the time-being.
A report was submitted by Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya to the CJI on March 22, stating that the entire matter warranted a deeper probe.
After perusing the report, the CJI directed Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya to ask Justice Varma to file a written response by 12:00 pm on March 22, 2025, explaining how did he account for the presence of money/cash in the room located in his premises.
Justice Varma was further asked to explain the source of money/cash found in the said room, as well as details of the person who removed the burnt money/cash from the room on the morning of March 15, 2025.
The CJI also directed the Delhi High Court Chief Justice to furnish details of the official staff of the High Court Registry, the personal security officers and the security guards posted at the residence of Justice Varma during the last six months.
CJI Khanna further asked Chief Justice Upadhyaya to place on record, the call record details of the official or other mobile phone number(s) of Justice Varma for the last six months.
Although the transfer of Justice Varma was yet to get a nod from the government, the process for the same was currently underway.
Justice Varma did not hold the court on March 21. His court staff revealed in the open court that he was on leave.
As per a leading English daily, a massive fire broke out at the residence of Justice Varma on March 14. The judge was reportedly out of town when the incident happened. His family called the fire brigade and police.
After the blaze was extinguished, officials discovered a huge sum of cash inside one of the rooms. The local police documented the recovery and reported the matter to senior officials, eventually alerting higher authorities in the government.
As soon as the news reached CJI Sanjiv Khanna, he convened an urgent Collegium meeting, which ordered immediate transfer of the Delhi High Court judge to his parent High Court in Allahabad, where he had previously served before being appointed to the Delhi High Court in October 2021.
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