Cash haul at judge's house: Delhi HC chief justice submits report to CJI Sanjiv Khanna

After the alleged discovery of a pile of cash at Justice Yashwant Varma's official residence caused an uproar, Delhi high court Chief Justice, DK Upadhyay, on Friday submitted a report to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna.

Justice Upadhyay carried out the in-house enquiry procedure and has presented the evidence and information collected regarding the incident in his report to CJI Khanna, reported news agency PTI.

The Supreme Court collegium will now examine the report and take a decision on what appropriate action must be taken. Justice Upadhyay had commenced the enquiry before the meeting of the collegium on March 20.

Also Read: Supreme Court says Justice Yashwant Varma's transfer ‘independent’ of inquiry against himc

On March 14, the night of the Holi festival, fire officials rushed to douse a fire at Justice Varma's Lutyen's residence at 11:35 pm. It was reported that after the fire was dealt with, a large pile of cash was purportedly discovered in Justice Varma's home.

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The amount of money that was supposedly found was not revealed. The situation became more complex after Delhi fire services chief Atul Garg claimed that the fire fighters had not found any cash in the judge's residence.

Justice Varma, was notably absent from court, according to his court master, on Friday. He currently heads a division bench which deals with cases of sales tax, GST, company appeals etc.

What did the Supreme Court collegium say?

After an in-house inquiry had been initiated against him, the Supreme Court collegium also entertained a proposal to transfer Justice Varma to Allahabad high court.

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They clarified that the enquiry and the transfer proposal were two separate issues and not linked.

"There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma," the apex court collegium said in a statement.

The top court said the proposal for transferring him was examined by the collegium comprising the CJI and four senior-most judges on March 20. After that, letters were sent to the consultee judges of the top court and the chief justices of the high courts concerned, apart from Justice Varma himself.

"Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the collegium will pass a resolution," the court said.