New Delhi, Mar 24: The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, on Monday recommended that the Centre repatriate Justice Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad High Court.

Justice Varma, the second senior most judge of the Delhi High Court, is embroiled in the controversy surrounding the alleged discovery of a huge pile of burnt cash in the storeroom attached to his bungalow in the national capital after the fire brigade had gone there to douse a blaze on March 14.

Following the incident which sent shockwaves across the judicial corridors, CJI Khanna, on Friday, constituted a 3-member committee to conduct an inquiry against Justice Varma and asked the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court not to assign him any judicial work for the time being.

Earlier in the day, Delhi HC's Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya withdrew judicial work from Justice Varma till further orders.

"In view of recent events, the judicial work from Hon'ble Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma is withdrawn with immediate effect, till further orders,” said a notice uploaded on the website of the Delhi High Court.

Another notice issued by the Registrar (Listing) of the Delhi HC said: "Court Master of Hon'ble DB-III will give dates in the matter listed before Hon'ble DB-III today."

"The Supreme Court Collegium in its meetings held on 20th and 24th March 2025 has recommended repatriation of Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad," said a statement uploaded on the website of the apex court on Monday.

Earlier, the apex court clarified that the proposal for the transfer of Justice Varma to his parent High Court i.e. Allahabad HC, was "independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure".

"The proposal was examined by the Collegium comprising of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and four senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court on 20th March 2025, and thereafter letters were written to the consultee Judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of the High Courts concerned, and Mr Justice Yashwant Varma. Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the Collegium will pass a resolution," the SC had said in a press statement.

As per the existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), the proposal for transfer of HC judges is initiated by the CJI in consultation with four senior-most puisne judges of the Supreme Court, commonly known as Collegium.

The MoP further provides that the CJI is also expected to take into account the views of the Chief Justice of the High Court from which the judge is to be transferred, as also the Chief Justice of the High Court to which the transfer is to be effected, besides taking into account the views of one or more Supreme Court judges who are in a position to offer views.

Born in January 1969, Justice Varma obtained a law degree from Rewa University and practised mainly on the civil side handling varied nature of matters relating to constitutional, industrial disputes, corporate, taxation, environment, and allied branches of law. He served as Chief Standing Counsel for the State of UP from 2012 till August 2013, when he was designated senior advocate by the Allahabad High Court. Justice Varma was elevated as an Additional Judge in the High Court in October 2014 and was transferred to the Delhi High Court in October 2021.

--IANS

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