SC Collegium favours transfer of Delhi HC judge after report of cash at his home

The statement, while noting the “misinformation and rumours being spread” regarding the incident at the residence of Justice Varma, said, “The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, who had commenced his enquiry prior to the Collegium meeting on 20th March 2025, will be submitting his report to the Chief Justice of India today i.e. on 21st March 2025. The report will be examined and processed for further and necessary action.”

Late Friday, it was learnt that the High Court CJ’s report had been sent.

The SC Collegium met Thursday evening and decided to recommend the transfer of Justice Varma back to Allahabad High Court. Highly-placed sources said the five-member Collegium considered the transfer after they were apprised about a video of the incident at Justice Varma’s residence.

After the CJI explained what had happened, the judges agreed that Justice Varma should be transferred out, said a source aware of the developments.

The statement from the Registry said “the proposal was examined by the Collegium comprising the Chief Justice of India and four senior most Judges of the Supreme Court on 20th March 2025, and thereafter letters were written to the consultee Judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justices of the High Courts concerned and Justice Yashwant Varma. Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the Collegium will pass a resolution.”

Calls and text messages Friday to Justice Varma’s office and staff by The Indian Express did not elicit a response.

These developments, apart from creating ripples in legal circles, echoed in Parliament Friday when Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, referring to the incident involving cash at the residence of the judge, said “if the malaise had been dealt with, perhaps we would not have countenanced such kind of issues”.

“What bothers me is that the incident happened and did not immediately surface,” he said in Rajya Sabha.

Dhankhar referred to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, cleared by Parliament in 2014 and struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015. “That historic legislation endorsed by this Parliament with unprecedented consensual support unknown to parliamentary history of this country dealt with the malaise very severely,” he said.

His remarks came after Congress MP Jairam Ramesh raised the matter of cash at the residence of the judge, and requested that Dhankhar “make some observations and give necessary directions to the government to come up with a proposal for increasing judicial accountability”.

Dhankhar said: “If it happens with a politician, he becomes a target… a bureaucrat, an industrialist… immediately. And therefore, a systemic response which is transparent, accountable, and effective, I am sure will be on the way.”

He said he would find a mechanism for a structured discussion on the matter after consulting the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition.

Ramesh had also raised the matter of Rajya Sabha MPs having submitted a notice regarding remarks made by a judge of the Allahabad High Court. In December last year, 55 Opposition MPs had given notice for moving a motion to impeach Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav for engaging in “hate speech”.

On this, Dhankhar said he had “taken all necessary steps” to get the verification of the members who signed the notice. He said he had a “concern” — of the 55 members who signed the representation, “a member’s signature appears on two occasions and the member concerned has denied his signature”.

“Now I do not wish to get into this act which may graduate to culpability of a higher level. If the number is above 50, I will proceed accordingly. Therefore, most of the members have cooperated… the process will not be delayed at my level even for a moment,” he said.