Earlier, in meetings held on March 20 and 24, 2025, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge of the Delhi High Court, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad.The CJI had constituted the inquiry committee after receiving the report submitted by Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in this matter.The SC had said that on receiving the cash recovery information, Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, initiated the in-house enquiry procedure against him.As per reports, a fire at the judge’s house on March 14 had inadvertently led to the recovery of alleged cash by the firefighter. It said the cash was found initially by fire tenders when the fire broke out in the judge’s residence on March 14. The judge was not present at his house when the fire incident took place.Justice Varma, in his reply, to the probe panel, said that no currency was recovered from the premises that he and his family actually occupy and use as a family.”That part of the premises is as indicated removed from the living quarters. It is in the aforesaid background that I urge you to absolve me of these unfounded and baseless allegations,” Justice Varma said.He, in his reply, clarified that in the life of a judge, nothing matters more than reputation and character. That has been severely tarnished and irreparably damaged.”The baseless allegations that have been levelled against me have proceeded on mere innuendos and an unproven assumption that the cash allegedly seen and found belonged to me,” Justice Varma replied.Terming that the incident has scarred his reputation built over more than a decade as a Judge of a High Court, Justice Varma said, he is left with no means to defend himself.”I would also beseech you to bear in consideration that in all my years as a Judge of a High Court, no such allegation had ever been made in the past nor any doubt cast on my integrity. In fact, I would be grateful if an enquiry is made with respect to my functioning as a judge and what is the perception of the legal fraternity with regard to my integrity and honesty in the discharge of my judicial functioning,” Justice Varma said.
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