CJI forms team to probe ‘cash at residence’ of Delhi HC judge

A release from the Supreme Court said the Delhi High Court Chief Justice “for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work” to Justice Varma.

“The Chief Justice of India has constituted a three member Committee consisting of Mr. Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana, Mr. Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and Ms. Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting Judge of the High Court of Delhi,” the release stated.

It said the report submitted by the Chief Justice of the High Court as well as the response of Justice Varma “and other documents” would be uploaded on the court website — and was done subsequently.

The decision to appoint the committee followed the submission Friday of a fact-finding report to the CJI by Chief Justice Upadhyaya.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court Collegium had proposed Justice Varma’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court, his parent High Court, following a report about the discovery of cash at his residence when a fire broke out there on March 14.