The Delhi High Court reworked its roster on Monday, retracting Justice Yashwant Varma from judicial tasks after a direction from Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna.
A three-member committee has been constituted by the CJI to probe the reported find of money at Justice Varma's house.
This has also prompted Congress MPs to bring the matter to Parliament, with two MPs filing Adjournment Motion notices in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, calling for an urgent discussion on the issue.
A circular released by the HC's Registrar on Monday stated, "In view of the recent events, the judicial work of Justice Yashwant Varma is withdrawn with immediate effect, until further orders." The notice also stated that the Court Master of the Hon'ble Division Bench (DB-III) will deal with the case listings for the cases that were earlier before Justice Varma.
Justice Varma had been presiding over Division Bench-III together with Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, which was dealing with a variety of cases, such as sales tax and GST cases, Letters Patent Appeals, Company Appeals, and Commercial Appellate Division cases. He now occupies the second senior-most position in the Delhi High Court, dealing with writ petitions against the constitutional validity of legislation or regulation on municipal taxes.
While that was happening, two MPs in Congress—Renuka Chowdhury from the Rajya Sabha and Manickam Tagore from the Lok Sabha—moved Adjournment Motion notices regarding the cash controversy at Justice Varma's house. Renuka Chowdhury, in her Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business notice, was worried about the "revelation" casting doubt on judicial integrity and transparency. She highlighted the significance of knowing why so much money was discovered in a judge's house and demanded that there should be urgent debates on judicial reforms and accountability. Likewise, Manickam Tagore termed the discovery as "highly questionable" and called for the government to offer explanations and assurances in the matter.
The controversy began after burnt Rs 500 currency notes were found during a firefighting operation at the outhouse of Justice Varma's bungalow on Tughlak Road in Central Delhi on March 14. A probe committee appointed by the CJI, along with other investigators, visited the residence of Delhi’s Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg to gather information about the sequence of events.
Also, a petition was moved before the Supreme Court, requesting the Delhi Police to lodge an FIR for a proper investigation into the allegations. The plea, moved by advocate Mathews Nedumpara, raised questions about the delay in lodging the FIR and providing access to the electronic records of the incident. The petition created suspicion of a possible attempt at a cover-up.
Justice Varma has denied wrongdoing, saying that the images of the burned money seemed to be evidence of a plot to frame and shame him. In a written affidavit to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, he said, "I was utterly shocked to notice the contents of the video as it showed something which was not present on the site as I had witnessed. This made me think that this was a naked conspiracy to frame and defame me."
