Bar bodies approach CJI against transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma to Allahabad HC

Several bar bodies on Thursday gave a memorandum to the office of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna seeking withdrawal of collegium's recommendation to transfer Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma to the Allahabad High Court. The bar associations of high courts of Allahabad, Gujarat, Kerala, Jabalpur, Karnataka and Lucknow submitted a memorandum to the CJI's office.

They have also raised the issue of alleged tampering of evidence at Justice Varma's official residence where burnt wads of cash were purportedly discovered on March 14 during a fire incident.

They have questioned non-registeration of an FIR in the incident.


Till the filing of this report, the bar leaders were waiting in the apex court to seek an appointment with the CJI.

The Allahabad High Court Bar Association went on an indefinite strike from March 25 to protest the proposed repatriation of Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent high court.

The alleged cash discovery happened following a fire at Justice Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14, prompting the fire officers to rush to the spot.

In the wake of the controversy, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma, from whom work was withdrawn by the Delhi High Court following a directive from the CJI, to his parent Allahabad High Court.

On March 22, the CJI constituted the three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into allegations and decided to upload the inquiry report of Chief Justice D K Upadhyay of the Delhi High Court in the incident.

Justice Varma has denounced the allegations and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.