Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has formed a three-member committee to look into allegations against Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma that a huge pile of cash was found at his house in the national capital.
The committee members are Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia, and Karnataka High Court judge Justice Anu Sivaraman, the Supreme Court said in a press note today.
The Delhi High Court Chief Justice for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma, the Supreme Court said.
In the press note today, the Supreme Court said the report submitted by the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, response by Justice Varma, and other documents, are being uploaded on the Supreme Court website.
The allegation that a huge pile of cash was found at Justice Varma’s house surfaced soon after a fire incident at his property. Firefighters reached there and controlled the blaze, and that was when they allegedly saw the cash pile. The amount allegedly discovered by the firefighters is not known.
Senior lawyer Harish Salve, who calls himself a “trenchant critic” of the collegium system, told NDTV on Friday it is “not equipped” to deal with cases like the alleged recovery of a huge pile of cash at the home of the Delhi High Court judge.
Mr Salve alleged the Delhi fire chief has said there was no recovery of cash from the judge’s bungalow, giving rise to an “odd and murky” situation.
The Delhi High Court website shows Justice Varma enrolled as an advocate in August 1992. He was appointed additional judge of the Allahabad High Court in October 2014.
He took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court in February 2016, before being appointed a judge of the Delhi High Court in October 2021.
He is currently heading a division bench, dealing with cases of sales tax, goods and services tax, company appeals, etc.
The process to transfer Justice Varma was unrelated to the inquiry into the cash stash case, the Supreme Court said on Friday. The top court flagged “misinformation and rumours” as the reasons why Justice Varma’s transfer to Allahabad High Court was linked to the cash recovery.
