The Supreme Court Collegium on Monday issued a resolution recommending the transfer of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, who is subject to an inquiry after the purported discovery of a large stash of cash at his residence, back to the Allahabad High Court.
The Allahabad High Court Bar Association had raised an objection over the Supreme Court Collegium’s decision to transfer Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court withdrew judicial work from Justice Yashwant Varma with immediate effect till further orders. The high court issued a notice on the development.
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.
The Supreme Court on March 22 uploaded on its website the inquiry report of Chief Justice Upadhyaya -- complete with photos and videos -- over the alleged discovery.
Chief Justice Khanna has constituted a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma aside from ordering an in-house inquiry following a report from Justice Upadhyaya.
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.