The Allahabad High Court Bar Association on Monday announced that it will go on an indefinite strike from March 25 to protest the proposed repatriation of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent court, PTI reported.
The announcement was made, following the confirmation of the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation to propose Justice Varma's transfer. Justice Varma is currently being investigated for the alleged discovery of a substantial amount of cash from his official house in Delhi.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Anil Tiwari, President of Allahabad High Court Bar Association said, "The CJI has been requested not to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma in Allahabad High Court or any other court because no court is a dumping ground. He should remain in Delhi under the close watch of Supreme Court until the completion of the proceedings."
"The second request is that all judgments given by Justice Varma during his tenure as a judge should be reviewed and scrutinized to infuse public confidence again", he added.
"Thirdly, we have requested the CJI to permit CBI and ED to lodge an FIR and proceed with a formal investigation...We have also raised an issue of Uncle Judge syndrome...The concept is that the family members of those judges who are practising in a particular court should not remain in that court. They should go outside to infuse the public confidence and to ensure transparency..."
SC Issued Resolution Recommending Transfer Of Justice Varma
The Supreme Court Collegium on Monday issued a resolution recommending the transfer of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, back to the Allahabad High Court. Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court withdrew judicial work from Justice Yashwant Varma with immediate effect till further orders.
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had previously asked Justice Upadhyaya not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma, the second senior-most judge of the Delhi High Court.
Justice Varma was heading a division bench, which was dealing with cases of sales tax, goods and services tax, company appeals and other appeals of the original side.
Meanwhile, Justice Varma has strongly denounced the allegations in the cash-discovery row and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom of his residence either by him or any of his family members. In his response to the high court chief justice, Justice Varma said the allegation of cash discovery from his residence clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign him.