SC collegium agrees on repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma to Allahabad

After two meetings, the Supreme Court collegium on Monday recommended the repatriation of Delhi High Court’s Justice Yashwant Varma — facing a probe into the alleged discovery of a huge stash of cash at his official residence in Delhi after a fire incident — to his parent Allahabad High Court.

Hours after the transfer recommendation to the Centre was made public in a resolution uploaded on the SC website, Allahabad High Court Bar Association (AHCBA) president Anil Tiwari said in Prayagraj (Allahabad) that the high court lawyers would go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday, 25 March in protest.

Justice Varma's transfer could come into effect once the Centre accepts the recommendation. In another development on Monday, Delhi High Court, through a notice, withdrew judicial work from Justice Varma "with immediate effect".

"The Supreme Court Collegium in its meetings held on March 20 and 24, 2025 has recommended the repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad," said the resolution adopted by the top court.

The AHCBA had last week voiced its opposition to such a move, saying Allahabad HC is not a “trash bin”. It also urged the Chief Justice of India to begin impeachment proceedings against the judge and demanded a review of judgements delivered by Justice Varma. The lawyers also abstained from judicial work after lunch break on Monday.

However, some legal experts termed the demand for the review as "preposterous", "premature" and "unjustified".

"As far as the review of all his (Justice Varma) judgements is concerned, it can only be sought by the parties concerned... this is not open for all," senior advocate Ajit Sinha said.

"I don't agree (with the demand for review). It's too premature for anything," said another senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan.

CJI Sanjiv Khanna had constituted a three-member panel to probe the discovery of "four to five semi-burnt sacks" of Indian currency notes at around 11.35 pm on 14 March after the fire. This followed an inquiry report submitted by chief justice of Delhi High Court Justice D.K. Upadhyaya.

Justice Varma has "unequivocally" denied any cash being placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members while "strongly denouncing" the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to them. He also said the allegations clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to "frame and malign" him.

Opposition leaders too have demanded a fair probe into the matter, with some MPs suggesting that steps be taken to impeach Justice Varma.

AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the alleged cash discovery is a big issue and that people's trust in the judiciary has been damaged. P. Sandosh Kumar of the CPI said Justice Varma should be impeached.

Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, meanwhile, held a meeting with Leader of the House J.P. Nadda and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on judicial accountability in the wake of the incident.

He said this was the first time since Independence that a chief justice had, "in a transparent, accountable manner", put all material available to him in the public domain and shared it without keeping anything with the court.