The Law Ministry on Friday notified the transfer of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court, the order coming amid a row over alleged discovery of a huge amount of cash from his official residence.
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has asked the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court to not assign any judicial work to Justice Varma. Meanwhile, strongly criticising the transfer of Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court, the Bar Association president has called it the “darkest day for India’s judiciary” and announced they will boycott his swearing-in ceremony.
“In exercise of the power conferred by Clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, Delhi High Court, to be a judge of the Allahabad High Court and to direct him to assume charge of his office in the Allahabad High Court,” said a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
In a related development, the Supreme Court rejected a PIL seeking Delhi Police to register an FIR over Justice Varma, calling it a “premature”.
A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said an in-house inquiry was in progress and there would be several options open to the Chief Justice of India after the probe’s conclusion. The Bench, therefore, refused to examine the plea of advocate Mathews J Nedumpara and three others.
“We have seen the prayers. After the in-house inquiry is over, several options are open. If the report indicates something is wrong, the Chief Justice (of India) can direct the register of the FIR or refer the matter to the Parliament after examining the report,” the court said. The Bench went on, “Today it is not the day to consider this petition. After the in-house report, all options are open. Why should we go into this question? The petition is premature because internal inquiry is going on.”
The Allahabad High Court lawyers have been on strike from the next day, Friday being the fourth day of protest against the transfer. Allahabad High Court Bar Association president Anil Tiwari said, “The Allahabad High Court Bar Association has decided to boycott his swearing-in ceremony. Our strike may change its form, but the fight will continue.” Tiwari further stated, “I don’t know what compelled the government to issue this transfer notification, but we still trust that it will intervene. We have called an emergency meeting tonight with senior advocates to decide our next course of action.” Asserting that the transfer was unfair, Tiwari said, “We are fighting for the common people. This is injustice, and the Allahabad High Court has been turned into a dumping ground.”
Recommending his repatriation to the government on Monday, the Supreme Court Collegium had asserted the move was separate from an in-house probe ordered by the top court over the alleged discovery of cash from Justice Varma’s residence after a fire incident around 11.35 on the night of Holi, March 14. Following the incident, Chief Justice of India had directed the Delhi High Court to withdraw judicial work from the judge.
On March 21, the Supreme Court said Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya had initiated an in-house inquiry against Justice Varma and there was a separate proposal to transfer the judge. Justice Upadhyaya was stated to have commenced the inquiry prior to a meeting of the apex court Collegium on March 20. On March 22, the CJI uploaded on the SC website the inquiry report by Chief Justice Upadhyaya, and constituted the three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry. Two days later, the Supreme Court Collegium formally recommended to the Centre Justice Varma’s transfer. “The Supreme Court Collegium in its meetings held on March 20 and 24, 2025 has recommended the repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad,” an SC resolution on that day read.
The next day, the three-member SC committee visited Justice Varma’s residence, commencing its inquiry into the matter. Justice Varma has denounced any insinuation and said no cash was ever placed at the site either by him or any of his family members.
“When the fire broke out around midnight, the fire service was alerted by my daughter and my private secretary, whose calls would be duly recorded. During the exercise to douse the fire, all staff and the members of my household were
asked to move away from the scene of the incident in view of safety concerns. After the fire was doused and when they went back to the scene of the incident, they saw no cash or currency on site,” he said in a response to Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya.
