A group of representatives from six different high court bar associations met with CJI Khanna and other collegium members—Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, Abhay S Oka, and Vikram Nath—in the Supreme Court.
New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Thursday assured bar leaders that he would consider their request to cancel the recommendation for transferring Delhi High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma. This was confirmed by Anil Tiwari, President of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association.
A group of representatives from six different high court bar associations met with CJI Khanna and other collegium members—Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, Abhay S Oka, and Vikram Nath—in the Supreme Court. They discussed the memorandum submitted by the bar associations and were assured that their demand would be considered.
After the meeting, Tiwari said that the Allahabad High Court Bar Association would review its decision on whether to continue with its indefinite strike. The bar association had started an indefinite strike on March 25 to protest the proposed transfer of Justice Varma back to his parent Allahabad High Court.
Earlier in the day, bar association representatives from the high courts of Allahabad, Gujarat, Kerala, Jabalpur, Karnataka, and Lucknow submitted a memorandum to the CJI’s office and sought a meeting with him.
One of their key concerns was an alleged tampering of evidence at Justice Varma’s official residence. On March 14, a fire broke out at his house, after which burnt bundles of cash were reportedly found. The bar members raised concerns about why no FIR had been registered regarding the incident.
The memorandum appreciated the CJI’s efforts to maintain transparency and for making public the report of the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, along with other relevant materials, on the Supreme Court’s website.
It stated, “The bar associations request the Chief Justice and the collegium to withdraw transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma and to withdraw all administrative work in addition to the judicial work which is already withdrawn.”
The bar leaders also urged the CJI to initiate criminal proceedings in the matter, stating in the memorandum,
“As per the report of the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, somebody had removed the articles from Justice Varma’s residence a day after the fire incident. In these kinds of crimes, there would be involvement of others and non-registration would adversely affect their prosecution.”
The fire at Justice Varma’s residence in Lutyens’ Delhi occurred at around 11:35 pm on March 14, prompting fire officials to rush to the scene. Following the controversy, the Supreme Court collegium recommended his transfer back to the Allahabad High Court. His work at the Delhi High Court had already been withdrawn after a directive from the CJI.
On March 22, CJI Khanna set up a three-member committee to conduct an internal inquiry into the allegations. He also decided to upload the inquiry report of Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyay on the Supreme Court website.
Justice Varma has denied all allegations, saying that “no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.”
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