Supreme Court Rebuts Rumors About Justice Yashwant Varma’s Alleged Cash Recovery:

On Friday, the Supreme Court refuted a piece of news claiming that Justice Yashwant Varma, the second most senior judge of the Delhi High Court, was being transferred to the Allahabad High Court due to a purported indiscretion regarding a possible cash amounting to a large sum being discovered in his possession. The Court labeled the claims and the case connected with it, “misinformation” and “rumours being spread.” The statement did not give affirmation nor derogation to the alleged cash claim. An announcement via PRO and additional registrar Rakesh Sharma stated that the proposed transfer to Justice Varma’s parent high court in Allahabad was still being deliberated by the Supreme Court collegium which decided was “independent” of any “in-house enquiry”. It also omitted what the details of the enquiry were. The previous report claimed that the Supreme Court central executive committee recommended imposing the Transfer on Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court after the cash allegation. The claim was that following the February 14 fire, valuables had been removed from the judges home by fire service personnel before the judge returned to Delhi.

It still remained unclear why, if such an incident did happen, Delhi police had not registered an FIR even after a week had passed. “There is a misinformation and rumours regarding the incident which took place at the residence of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma,” The Supreme Court said without explaining what “incident” was. “Upon being informed, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court set in motion the in-house enquiry process to gather evidence and information. The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, who started his enquiry before the collegium meeting on 20th March 2025, will hand over his report to the Chief Justice of India today i.e. on 21st March 2025. The report will be processed and directed for the further necessary actions.” The statement elaborated, “The proposal for transfer for Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma who is the 2nd senior most Judge in the Delhi High court and member of the collegium to his parent High Court, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad where as he will be 9th in seniority is distinct and separate from the other inhouse enquiry from the other.”

Furthermore, the described event took place in Delhi. The Judicial Transfer Order was considered by the Collegium which consists of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior most Judges of the Supreme Court on 20th March, 2025. After that letters were sent out to the consultative Judges of Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of the respective High Courts, and Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma. All the Responses received will be processed and subsequently, the Collegium will adopt a resolution.

Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate, claims that the allegation ‘is one which must be looked into in great detail.’

He ruled out any imputation of motion against the judge, stressing that all prior impeachment motions in respect of judges have been canceled by some political party, one or the other. It is needed to seek the permission of the Parliament to impeach a Judge.

Sibal argued that the supreme court ought to ‘graft’ a fresh procedure in relation to accusations of misconduct and corruption against judges of the high court and the supreme court.

According to sources within the police department in Delhi, the Justice Varma fire had been documented under ‘A Routine General Diary’ at the Tughlak Road Police Station.

"There were no injuries, so an FIR wasn't registered," said the officer. The fire department also failed to mention any cash recoveries or seizures.”

The officer claimed the firefighters observed some suspicious jute bags in the corner of the room. In a different part of the room, the court clerk claimed those bags actually contained court documents.

He claimed his police unit also responded to the emergency call about the fire.

Some sources claim certain firefighters filmed the jute bags filled with what looked like cash and sent it to the Chief Justice of India.

Atul Garg, chief fire officer and member of the Delhi Fire Services, challenged claims he was quote saying he did not receive cash from the judges’ residence.

Garg informed his comments were taken out of context from an earlier statement he gave. “It’s not our job to recover cash, fire services and the police operate separately,” he said.

The Allahabad High Court Bar Association opposed objections to Justice Varma being moved to the high court.