Is Justice Varma of Delhi High Court being framed? Lawyers, judges divided

“Justice Yashwant Verma is known as a good judge and isn't retiring soon (tenure till 2031). Why would he keep a room full of cash? The fire and all 'evidence' surfaced in his absence. This smells of a setup. Who in the govt wanted him out? Serious doubts,” lawyer Anas Tanwir posted on X.

Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju wondered whether Justice Varma was heard by the collegium. “Justice Yashwant Verma's episode reminds me of Lewis Carrol's 'Alice in Wonderland' in which Queen of Hearts would say 'Off with his head' whenever an accused was brought before her. When asked what about holding a trial, she would say 'Off with his head first, trial afterwards'."

This section of lawyers believes that the fire that broke out at Justice Varma’s residence on 14 March, when he was out of station, has been used to give him and the judiciary a bad name and bolster the government’s case for taking over the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.

Another lawyer Rahul Bajaj posted on X, “Justice Yashwant Varma no doubt needs to come clean on the allegations made against him. However, as someone who has worked with him on the administrative side and also been part of legal teams that have appeared before him judicially, I can say that he is a man of deep integrity." Fellow lawyer Apoorva Thakral, who sprang to his defence, said, “I’ve appeared before him and he is an exceptionally patient, humorous and fair judge."

Doubts have surfaced primarily owing to the delayed action by the collegium. If the ‘incident’ was reported to Delhi Police on 14-15 March, when was the chief justice of India informed? If the CJI was informed on 15 or 16 March, why did he have to wait until the evening of 20 March to convene an extraordinary meeting of the collegium which unanimously decided to repatriate Justice Varma back to Allahabad?

And if the CJI was not informed before 20 March, who decided to delay the call? Above all, six days should have been enough for the Delhi Police, Delhi High Court and the CJI to get in touch with Justice Varma and find out his version of events.

Justice Varma was elevated to the Allahabad High Court in October 2014 as an ad-hoc judge and confirmed in 2016. He was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2021 and is due to retire in 2031. His specialisation was on the civil side, taxation and commercial taxes, and the recent judgments delivered by him mostly related to GST, income tax, customs and arbitration.

The role of the Delhi Police is also being questioned. Did the fire brigade inform the police about the ‘huge pile of cash’ and did the police then arrive at the spot to record statements and prepare the seizure memo? Media reports suggest that the local police station had not recorded anything.

It is also not clear if the police recorded the statement of the firemen who allegedly took pictures of the cash and shot videos of the cash being burned. Nor is it known until now if the original device, a crucial piece of evidence, on which the images were recorded was seized by the police.

Matters have been further complicated by Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg's statement today that fire fighters found no cash during their operation to douse flames at the residence.

The control room received a call about a blaze at Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at 11.35 pm on 14 March, and two fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot, Garg told PTI. Fire tenders reached the spot at 11.43 pm. The fire was in a store room stocked with stationery and domestic articles, Garg said, adding that it took 15 minutes to control the flames. There were no casualties.

"Soon after dousing the flames, we informed police about the fire incident. Thereafter, a team of fire department personnel left the spot. Our fire fighters did not find any cash during their fire fighting operation," the DFS chief categorically said.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Supreme Court today said "misinformation and rumours" were being spread over the incident, and that the proposal for Justice Varma's transfer to Allahabad High Court was independent and separate from in-house enquiry procedure.

The statement also said that upon receiving information, the Delhi High Court chief justice commenced an in-house enquiry procedure, collecting evidence and information. Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya, who began the enquiry before the 20 March collegium meeting, would submit a report to CJI Sanjiv Khanna today itself, it added.

With PTI inputs