Delhi Judge Cash Scandal: CJI Constitutes 3-Member Committee, No Work To Be Given To Justice Yashwant Varma

New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India (CJI) has constituted a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge of the Delhi High Court, following the recovery of a huge pile of cash from his residence during a fire incident on March 14.

The committee comprises Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, a Judge of the Karnataka High Court.

For the time being, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court has been instructed not to assign any judicial responsibilities to Justice Yashwant Varma.

The report submitted by the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, the response from Justice Yashwant Varma, and other related documents are being uploaded to the Supreme Court website, the top court said in a statement.

Why Justice Yashwant Varma is under scanner?

Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma is under scrutiny after massive unaccounted cash, crores of rupees as reports say, was recovered from his place after a fire broke out on March 14 in Delhi.

When the blaze erupted at his place, Justice Yashwant Varma and his wife were not present in the town as they were in Bhopal. Someone from the house alerted the fire department who reached the spot and doused the fire. It was during this incident when huge cash pile up was found at his residence.

A Delhi fire department report which was accessed by Republic Media Network, however, did not have any mention of the cash recovery from Justice Varma's residence, raising suspicion that there was an attempt of a coverup. 

Why there is outrage against judiciary and Justice Yashwant Varma 

Many legal eagles, members from the judicial fraternity expressed concern after the Supreme Court collegium transferred Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court, saying this was a more serious matter and the accused Judge should have been asked to resign or impeached.

However, on Friday, the Supreme Court in a statement said that Justice Yashwant Varma's transfer to the Allahabad High Court was not related to the alleged cash recovery incident.

After questions were raised on SC Collegium's decision to transfer the judge, the Supreme Court issued a statement and said that explained that the proposal for transferring Justice Varma—currently the second senior-most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a Collegium member—back to his parent High Court, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will rank ninth in seniority, is independent of the ongoing in-house enquiry procedure.