Cash at Home Row Case: Supreme Court returns Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court

The Supreme Court has formally suggested that Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, who was caught up in a storm after wads of burned cash were discovered at his residence following a fire, be sent to his parent High Court in Allahabad.

“The Supreme Court Collegium, in its meetings held on the 20th and 24th of March, has recommended repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad,” according to a statement posted on the SC website Monday.

Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna convened the Collegium on March 20 following an adverse report on the cash discovery and a video purportedly showing firefighters stumbling across the bundles while putting out a fire in a store room belonging to the residence.

After reviewing the video, the Collegium unanimously voted to propose his transfer; however, the resolution was not immediately uploaded.

As the controversy intensified, the Supreme Court, in press note of March 21, said that “the proposal for transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court, that is, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure”.

Justice Varma says that no cash was shown to the staff at his apartment.

“When the fire broke out about midnight, my daughter and my private secretary notified the fire department, and their calls were recorded. During the exercise to extinguish the fire, all staff and members of my household were ordered to leave the scene due to safety concerns. After the fire was extinguished, they returned to the scene of the incident and discovered no cash or currency,” he stated in response to Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya.