Cash at judge’s residence: CJI to examine 'in-house' enquiry
Cash at judge’s residence: CJI to examine 'in-house' enquiry report
Sanjiv Khanna will receive on Friday the report prepared by the Delhi High Court's Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya after a large amount of unaccounted cash was reportedly discovered at the residence of a high court judge
NEW DELHI — Chief
Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna will receive on Friday the report prepared
by the Delhi High Court's Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya after a large amount of
unaccounted cash was reportedly discovered at the residence of a high court
judge in the national capital.
"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," said a statement released by the Supreme Court.
As per media reports, a huge amount of cash was found last
week when a fire brigade had gone to Delhi HC's Justice Yashwant Varma's
residence to douse a fire.
The apex court press statement clarified that the proposal
for the transfer of Justice Varma, who is the second senior most judge in the
Delhi High Court, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature at
Allahabad, where he will be the ninth in seniority, is "independent and
separate from the In-house enquiry procedure".
"The proposal was examined by the Collegium comprising
of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) 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 Mr Justice Yashwant Varma. Responses received will be examined and,
thereupon, the Collegium will pass a resolution," the statement added.
"There is misinformation and rumours being spread with
regard to the incident at the residence of Mr Justice Yashwant Varma," the
press statement said.
As per the "in-house procedure", the Chief Justice
of India (CJI) is competent to receive complaints against the conduct of judges
of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Similarly, the
Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against
the conduct of High Court judges.
The apex court Court, in its full Court meeting in May 1997
had adopted two resolutions. The first resolution "The Restatement of
Values of Judicial Life" lays down certain judicial standards and
principles to be observed and followed by the judges of the Supreme Court and
High Courts, and the second "in-house procedure” provides for taking
suitable remedial action against judges who do not follow universally accepted
values of judicial life including those included in the Restatement.
As per the SC judgment in the Indira Jaising v. Supreme
Court of India case, it has been held that the report of a committee
constituted as a part of the "in-house procedure" is not liable to be
made public.
The existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) provided that the
proposal for transfer of HC judges is initiated by the CJI in consultation with
four senior-most puisne judges of the Supreme Court, commonly known as
Collegium. The MoP further provides that the CJI is also expected to take into
account the views of the Chief Justice of the High Court from which the judge
is to be transferred, as also the Chief Justice of the High Court to which the
transfer is to be effected, besides taking into account the views of one or
more Supreme Court judges who are in a position to offer views.
Born in January 1969, Justice Varma obtained a law degree
from Rewa University and practised mainly on the civil side handling varied
nature of matters relating to constitutional, industrial disputes, corporate,
taxation, environment, and allied branches of law. He served as Chief Standing
Counsel for the State of UP from 2012 till August 2013, when he was designated
as ‘senior advocate’ by the Allahabad High Court. Justice Varma was elevated as
an Additional Judge in October 2014 and was transferred to the Delhi High Court
in October 2021.
At the Delhi High Court, Justice Varma is currently the
second seniormost judge dealing with writ petitions challenging the
constitutional validity of any law, statutory rule, regulation or notification
pertaining to municipal tax. As per the latest roster, Justice Varma-led
division bench, which also comprised Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, dealt
with sales tax cases and GST cases, Letters Patent Appeals, regular First
Appeals (Original Side), Company Appeals, matters to be heard by Commercial
Appellate Division, etc.
