Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court Bar Association on Friday opposed the transfer of Delhi High Court sitting judge Justice Yashwant Varma, from whose official home a huge stash of cash was reportedly discovered, saying it was not a “trash bin”.
In a resolution passed soon after the news of the judge’s transfer by a Supreme Court collegium was reported, the association said, “We were taken aback that the Supreme Court has transferred Justice Yashwant Varma back to Allahabad High Court…” The resolution, naming association president and senior advocate Anil Tiwari as the signatory, claims that the discovery of the “unaccounted money” from the judge’s house was of “Rs 15 crore”.
“Supreme Court has taken cognisance on the matter immediately and unanimously decide repatriate Justice Yashwant Varma to Allahabad High Court,” it said.
The statement added, “The decision of the collegium raises a serious question as to whether the Allahabad high Court is a trash bin?” Aside from expressing concerns over Justice Varma’s transfer, the statement referred to issues such as the shortage of judges there and the supreme court “time and again” censuring the high court.
“Presently, we are facing so many problems particularly shortage of judges resulting in fresh cases not being heard for months thereby diminishing the faith of the public in the rule of the law but it does not mean we are a trash bin. We are not ready to accept corruption.” Initiating action, Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna reportedly decided to transfer Justice Varma from the Delhi High Court to his parent Allahabad High Court following the incident.
The collegium is also believed to have commenced an initial inquiry against the judge.
The initial inquiry, which is not an in-house inquiry as envisaged in Supreme Court judgements, would entail seeking of a primary report on the incident from the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.
It has been said the commencement of the initial inquiry was just one of the steps and the collegium might take further action in this regard.
The 56-year-old judge, enrolled as an advocate in 1992, was appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014 and took oath as a permanent judge of that court on February 1, 2016.
While the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna is stated to have initiated the process to transfer Justice Varma from Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court, the judge did not hold his court on Friday.
Justice Varma was born on January 6, 1969 in Allahabad. He studied B.Com (Honours) course at Hansraj College at Delhi University and obtained his LLB degree from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa University.
As an advocate at the Allahabad High Court, he practised matters of constitutional, labour and industrial legislations aside from corporate laws, taxation and allied branches of law.
He was also the special counsel for the Allahabad High Court from 2006 till his elevation apart from being the chief standing counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government from 2012 till August 2013 when he was designated as a senior advocate.
