NEW DELHI: A fire at the residential bungalow of Delhi high court Judge Yashwant Varma led to the discovery of a significant amount of cash, triggering a swift response from the Supreme Court Collegium, which decided to transfer him to the Allahabad high court .
Justice Varma was out of town when the fire broke out, prompting his family members to call the fire brigade and police. After the blaze was extinguished, first responders found a huge sum of cash in one of the rooms.
The local police reported the matter to their seniors, who escalated it to top government officials. The information soon reached Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, who convened an urgent collegium meeting.
The collegium unanimously decided to transfer Justice Varma to his parent court, the Allahabad high court . However, some members expressed concerns that merely transferring him could damage the judiciary’s reputation and suggested that he should either resign or face an in-house inquiry, a process that could lead to his removal by Parliament.
According to the Supreme Court’s in-house procedure for investigating allegations against constitutional court judges, the CJI first seeks the judge’s response before deciding whether to initiate a probe. If a deeper investigation is needed, a panel comprising a Supreme Court judge and two high court chief justices may be formed.
Who is Justice Yashwant Varma?
Justice Yashwant Varma was born on January 6, 1969, in Allahabad. He completed his BCom (Hons) from Hansraj College, Delhi University, and later earned an LLB from Rewa University, Madhya Pradesh. He enrolled as an advocate on August 8, 1992.
During his legal career at the Allahabad high court , Justice Varma specialised in constitutional law, labour and industrial legislations, corporate laws, taxation, and related fields. He served as special counsel for the Allahabad high court from 2006 until his elevation and was chief standing counsel for Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2013 before being designated as a senior advocate.
He was appointed as an additional judge at the Allahabad high court on October 13, 2014, and was elevated to a permanent judge on February 1, 2016. He was later transferred to the Delhi high court on October 11, 2021.
