Who is Justice Yashwant Varma? Delhi HC judge ‘transferred’ after huge cash pile recovered from his home

Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma will be transferred back to the Allahabad High Court, sources told NDTV on Friday. The Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, took the decision after a vast amount of cash was found at his official bungalow last week.

A massive pile of cash was recovered after a fire broke out in the building and family members of the judge called emergency services, who then called the police. The incident happened on March 14, during Holi celebrations, NDTV reported.

According to a TOI report, Justice Varma was reportedly out of town when the fire broke out. After dousing the fire, officials discovered a large sum of cash inside one of the rooms, the report added.

As the matter reached higher authorities in the government, the Supreme Court collegium unanimously decided on Justice Varma's transfer, moving him back to his parent High Court in Allahabad.

Varma had previously served at the Allahabad High Court before being appointed to the Delhi HC in October 2021.

'We are shaken and demoralized'

Amid the controversy, senior advocate Arun Bhardwaj said before Delhi HC Chief Justice (CJ) DK Upadhyaya, “Today’s incident has pained many of us. Please take some steps on the administrative side so that these incidents do not happen in future and the truthfulness of judicial system is maintained…We are shaken and demoralised.”

The CJ remarked, “So is everybody. We are conscious…”

Justice Yashwant Varma did not hold court on Friday as court master says division bench is on “leave”.

Who is Justice Yashwant Varma?

1. Yashwant Varma's birth: Justice Yashwant Varma was Born on 6 January 1969 in Allahabad.

2. Yashwant Varma's education: He pursued the B.Com [Honours] degree course at Hansraj College, Delhi University. He was awarded the LLB degree by Rewa University, Madhya Pradesh, and thereafter enrolled as an Advocate on August 8, 1992.

3. Yashwant Varma's career: He was elevated as Additional Judge at the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014, took oath as the Permanent Judge of that court on February 1, 2016 and transferred to Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021.

4. Yashwant Varma's role: As an advocate at the Allahabad High Court, he had a varied practice handling matters relating to constitutional, labour and industrial legislations, corporate laws, taxation and allied branches of law.

5. He was also the Special Counsel for the Allahabad High Court from 2006 till elevation, as per his profile on the Delhi High Court's website. Justice Yashwant Varma held the office of the Chief Standing Counsel for Uttar Pradesh from 2012 till August 2013 when was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Court.