Govt Notifies Justice Varma Transfer Amid 'Cash' Furore

The Union government on Friday notified the repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad high court, acting on the Supreme Court collegium’s March 24 recommendation.

- Utkarsh Anand

The move came in the wake of an in-house probe initiated against Justice Varma following the alleged discovery of large amounts of cash at his official residence in Delhi.

Justice Varma, who has been a judge at the Delhi high court since 2021, found himself at the center of a controversy after firefighters responding to a minor fire at his Tughlak Road residence on March 14 reportedly found stacks of cash, some of which were allegedly charred. The incident led to widespread speculation and calls for a formal investigation into the matter.

On March 20, the Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, decided to move Justice Varma's back to his parent high court, the Allahabad High Court. Three days later, the CJI set up a three-member in-house inquiry panel to examine the circumstances surrounding the cash discovery.

After the government's notification on his transfer, CJI Khanna issued a mandate for the Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Arun Bhansali not to assign any judicial work to justice Varma, pending the inquiry. A similar mandate was earlier issued for the Delhi high court chief justice.