Delhi HC judge Yashwant Varma transferred after fire reveals pile of cash in bungalow
The money was discovered by the fire brigade personnel deployed to douse the flames that had engulfed the building.
Justice Yashwant Varma, a member of Delhi high court bench, was transferred on Friday following the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium after a large amount of cash was recovered from his bungalow after a fire incident.
Justice Varma will be going back to his parent court, the Allahabad high court.
According to a report by India Today, a fire broke out at Justice Varma's official residence in Delhi while he was not in the city. The fire department was alerted and the flames were brought under control. But the fire revealed a huge amount of cash in different rooms of the bungalow.
The money was discovered by the fire brigade personnel deployed to douse the flames that had engulfed the building.
The transfer order
After receiving the incident report that mentioned the discovery of unaccounted cash, Supreme Court Collegium decides to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma out of the Delhi high court and send him back to Allahabad.
The SC collegium led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna made the recommendations for his transfer to the Central government, ANI reported. Justice Varma took oath as Delhi High Court judge in October 2021.
While the transfer order has been given, some members of the collegium felt that the incident should not just lead to a transfer, Times of India reported. These members reportedly asked the CJI to ask for Justice Varma’s resignation. They also recommended setting up an in-house inquiry committee into the matter if the judge happens to refuse to resign. The inquiry committee is the first step towards the removal of a sitting judge by the parliament.
As per the procedure for tackling corruption charges against the judges of the constitutional courts being followed since 1999, the Chief Justice of India seeks a response from the judge against whom a complaint is received.
If the given response is not to the satisfaction of the CJI, he is authorised to set up an in-house inquiry committee headed by a Supreme Court judge and chief justices from two high courts.
