No work for Justice Varma at Allahabad HC yet, lawyers to boycott swearing-in

The Supreme Court on Friday said the chief justice of Allahabad High Court was asked not to assign any judicial work for now to Justice Yashwant Varma, embroiled in the cash discovery row, upon assuming charge.

On 24 March, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court from Delhi High Court, which had previously withdrawn work from the judge following a directive from the chief justice of India (CJI).

"The chief justice of Allahabad High Court for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Yashwant Varma, when he assumes charge as a judge of the Allahabad High Court," the apex court's press release said on Friday.

The development assumes significance as the government on Friday notified the transfer of Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court. The order comes amid the purported discovery of burned stacks of cash from a storeroom in the judge's official residence in Delhi after a fire on 14 March. The law ministry issued a notification announcing his transfer.

Recommending his repatriation to the government, the Supreme Court collegium had said the move was separate from an in-house probe ordered by the top court over the alleged discovery of cash from the judge's Lutyen's Delhi residence after a fire incident at around 11.35 pm on 14 March.

The apex court on Friday also rejected a PIL requesting that Delhi Police register an FIR over the alleged discovery of the cash from Justice Varma's residence, calling it "premature".

On 22 March, CJI Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into the incident, and decided to upload on the apex court website the inquiry report of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya of Delhi High Court, which included photos and videos of the alleged stash of cash. It is yet to be made clear who took the photos and recorded the videos.

Justice Varma denied all knowledge of the matter, and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.

Meanwhile, strongly opposing the transfer of Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court, its bar association president on Friday called it the "darkest day for India's judiciary", and announced they would boycott his swearing-in ceremony.

Allahabad High Court lawyers have been on strike since Tuesday, and Friday marks the fourth day of their protest against the transfer. Speaking to PTI on Friday, bar association president Anil Tiwari said, "The Allahabad High Court Bar Association has decided to boycott his swearing-in ceremony. Our strike may change its form, but the fight will continue."

Tiwari also said, "I don't know what compelled the government to issue this transfer notification, but we still trust that it will intervene. We have called an emergency meeting tonight with senior advocates to decide our next course of action."

Asserting that the transfer was unfair, Tiwari said, "We are fighting for the common people. This is injustice, and the Allahabad High Court has been turned into a dumping ground."

With PTI inputs