Cash At Judge's Home Row: SC In-House Panel Submits Probe Report To CJI Khanna
The Supreme Court-appointed enquiry panel formed to probe into cash discovery allegations against Justice Yashwant Verma has submitted its report to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna.
Then Delhi HC judge, Justice Varma is embroiled in a controversy surrounding the alleged discovery of a huge pile of burnt cash in the storeroom attached to his bungalow in Delhi after the fire brigade had gone there to douse a blaze on March 14.
"The three-member Committee consisting of Mr Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Mr Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh. and Ms Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, constituted for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge, has submitted its report dated 03.05.2025 to the Chief Justice of India on 04.05.2025," said a press released issued by the apex court on Monday.
Justice Varma's transfer from Delhi High Court to Allahabad HC, amid an in-house probe, was cleared by the Union government on March 28.
The CJI Khanna-led Supreme Court Collegium had earlier recommended that the Centre repatriate Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court. It had said that the proposal for the transfer of Justice Varma, who is the second senior-most judge in the Delhi High Court, to his parent High Court, i.e. the Allahabad High Court, where he will be the ninth in seniority, is "independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure".
Justice Varma was taken off judicial work before being sent to the Allahabad HC. His shift to Uttar Pradesh came despite opposition from the bar associations in Lucknow and Allahabad. While Justice Varma has denied any wrongdoing, CJI Khanna constituted a 3-member committee in the last week of March to conduct an in-house inquiry.
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