Today, On 21st March, Several media reports claim that a large amount of cash unexpectedly found at Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence. The discovery happened when fire brigade officials arrived to extinguish a fire at his house. Following the incident, Justice Varma has gone on leave, raising questions about judicial accountability. The Supreme Court and Delhi High Court are yet to make an official statement on the matter.
The controversy over the recovery of cash from the residence of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma sent Impact through the legal community on Friday morning.
Reports from various media outlets indicated that a significant amount of cash was accidentally found at the judge’s home while a fire brigade was responding to a fire there.
Following this incident, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended Justice Varma’s transfer back to his original High Court, the Allahabad High Court.
An official statement regarding the transfer from the Collegium has yet to be released. However, the atmosphere surrounding the incident was tense, leading to various benches of the Supreme Court not convening until late in the morning.
The Collegium benches, composed of the five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, only met at 11:15 AM, 45 minutes later than their usual start time.
Meanwhile, Justice Varma did not hold court that day, and his staff informed attendees that he was on leave. When Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyaya took his seat, the issue was brought up by the Bar.
Senior Advocate Arun Bhardwaj stated,
“The incident has pained many of us. Please take some steps on the administrative side to ensure such incidents don’t occur in the future,”
The Chief Justice replied that the judges are mindful of the situation.
The Supreme Court Collegium decided to transfer Justice Yashwant Verma from the Delhi High Court back to his parent High Court Allahabad. Sources informed that this decision came after a significant amount of unaccounted cash was found in his official bungalow last week during the Holi holidays.
The cash discovered following a fire in the building, which prompted family members of the judge who was out of the city at the time to call emergency services, leading to police involvement.
Upon learning of the situation through official channels, the Collegium, led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, opted to transfer Justice Verma.
As of now, Justice Verma has not commented on the cash discovery.
In 1999, the Supreme Court established guidelines for addressing allegations of corruption, misconduct, and judicial irregularities involving judges of the Constitutional Court.
According to these guidelines, upon receiving a complaint, the Chief Justice first seeks a response from the judge in question. If the Chief Justice is not satisfied with the reply or believes further investigation is warranted, he will form an internal committee.
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