New Delhi: The Centre is leant to have started processing the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium (SCC) to transfer senior Delhi high court judge Yashwant Varma back to his parent high court – Allahabad.
Sources told The Wire that along with Justice Varma the Centre has also started processing pending transfer cases, including that of Delhi high court judge Chandra Dhari Singh back to Allahabad high court. The recommendation regarding repatriation of Singh was made in a collegium meeting on November 28 and 29.
Sources said the files have already reached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and a formal decision is expected anytime soon.
The SCC had recommended Justice Varma’s transfer back to Allahabad high court following the fire incident at his official residence where huge money is reported to have been burnt.
Also read: Fire, Smoke and Vanishing Cash at a Judge’s House: What We Know, What We Don’t Know
Notably, the Allahabad high court bar association (HCBA) has opposed the proposed transfer of Varma underlining that it raises a “serious question as to whether the Allahabad high court is trash bin”. The association on Tuesday (March 25) also began an indefinite strike to protest against the proposed transfer.
Last week, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjeev Khanna has made public the initial set of reports which form the basis for the Supreme Court initiating an inquiry into allegations that an unspecified amount of unaccounted cash was seen at an outhouse/store room in the residential compound of Justice Varma.
On March 21, Delhi Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya sent a formal report to CJI Khanna about the fire and the burnt cash, to which CJI Khanna responded with a request for some additional information. He also asked for Justice Varma to give his written response to “the facts recorded and found in the report” by March 22.
The same day – i.e. before Justice Varma’s written submission was received – the Supreme Court decided to transfer Justice Varma to Allahabad high court but hurried to add that this decision was independent of the in-house inquiry (into the cash allegation).
Following the receipt of Justice Varma’s written response on March 22, the court established a formal inquiry committee and publicly released redacted versions of the correspondence.
Maneesh Chhibber is a senior journalist.
