Delhi High Court Judge, Justice Yashwant Varma was transferred on Friday on the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna upon the recovery of huge cash piles after a fire accident at his official residence.
Justice Varma has been transferred to his parent court, Allahabad High Court. A fire broke out at Justice Varma’s official residence in Delhi while he was out of town. The neighbors alerted the fire department about the flames which responded immediately and brought the flames under control.
As the fire was extinguished, huge cash piles were discovered from different rooms by the fire brigade personnel which appeared to be unaccounted money.
The incident created a lot of commotion responding to which CJI Khanna called for a collegium meeting. The collegium unanimously agreed on transferring Justice Varma to his parent court.
However, some justices in the collegium are of the view that stricter retribution should be taken. They believe that the alleged corruption charges in the justices is tarnishing the image of the judiciary.
They have reportedly asked Justice Varma to resign and have called for an in-house inquiry committee into the matter if the judge refuses.
Since 1999, to tackle corruption charges against the judges of the constitutional courts, the CJI seeks a response from the judge against whom a complaint is received.
If the response is deemed unsatisfactory by the CJI, he is authorized to establish an in-house inquiry committee led by a Supreme Court judge and two High Court chief justices.
