Centre transfers Justice Yashwant Varma to Allahabad High Court

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday issued a notification regarding transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma, a judge of the Delhi High Court, who is embroiled in the controversy surrounding the alleged discovery of a huge pile of burnt cash in the storeroom attached to his bungalow in the national capital after the fire brigade had gone there to douse a blaze on March 14.

“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer Shri Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, Delhi High Court, to be a Judge of Allahabad High Court and to direct him to assume charge of his office in the Allahabad High Court,” said a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.

Earlier in the day, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan disposed of a plea seeking direction to the Delhi Police to register an FIR and cause an effective and meaningful investigation into the allegations against Justice Varma. Refusing to entertain the plea, the Justice Oka-led Bench remarked: “The ‘in-house’ inquiry is ongoing. If the report finds something wrong, an FIR could be directed or the matter could be referred to the Parliament. Today is not the time to consider (the registration of FIR).”

The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by CJI Sanjiv Khanna, on Monday, recommended that the Centre repatriate Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court. “The Supreme Court Collegium in its meetings held on 20th and 24th March 2025 has recommended repatriation of Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad,” said a statement uploaded on the website of the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the top court, in a statement, clarified that the proposal for the transfer of Justice Varma, who is the second senior most judge in the Delhi High Court, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be the ninth in seniority, is “independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure”.

Last week, CJI Khanna constituted a 3-member committee to conduct an inquiry against Justice Varma and asked the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court not to assign him any judicial work for the time being. On Thursday, leaders of various bar associations met CJI Khanna and senior judges of the Supreme Court Collegium, demanding the withdrawal of the transfer of Delhi High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, to the Allahabad High Court.

IANS