NEW DELHI :Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Verma, who came into the limelight after 15 crores cash was found after a fire broke out in his government bungalow, has been transferred with immediate effect. Recently, while extinguishing the fire in his government residence, the police found a stash of money there, then the judge was out of Delhi on Holi holidays.
In view of the seriousness of the matter, after an emergency meeting of the Supreme Court Collegium in a hurry, it has been decided to send him back to Allahabad High Court. In view of the seriousness of the matter, all the judges in the collegium agreed that Justice Verma should be transferred immediately. He has now been sent to Allahabad High Court, from where he came to Delhi High Court in 2021.
Meanwhile, protests have started regarding the recommendation of his transfer.
The Bar Association of Allahabad High Court has strongly objected to the transfer of Yashwant Verma. Also, they have appealed not to send him to Allahabad High Court. The Bar Association says that Allahabad High Court is not a “dustbin” that people accused of corruption should be sent here to get justice. However, some judges of the Collegium believed that just transfer is not enough. They said that such a serious incident will tarnish the image of the judiciary and break people’s trust. They suggested that Justice Verma should be asked to resign, and if he refuses, then the CJI should start an inquiry, which will be the first step towards his removal by Parliament.
According to the rules made by the Supreme Court in 1999, if there is an allegation of corruption or wrongdoing against a judge, then the CJI first asks for an answer from the judge. If the CJI is not satisfied with the answer, he can form an inquiry committee, which includes one judge of the Supreme Court and two Chief Justices of the High Court. This committee investigates the matter in depth. When the Supreme Court Collegium met on Thursday (March 20) to discuss the serious issue of large stacks of cash suddenly found in the official residence of Justice Yashwant Verma, a senior judge of the Delhi High Court and a member of its Collegium, a majority of the members of the Supreme Court Collegium pressed Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to take the “strictest possible” action, including initiating an internal inquiry and impeachment proceedings against the judge. At least one Supreme Court judge, this correspondent has learnt, also asked the CJI if he had called up the judge and sought his resignation, or considered asking the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to ask him to take back the assignment. Taking into account the CJI’s wish, it was decided that first of all, the erring judge may be transferred back to his parent High Court – the Allahabad High Court. The Allahabad High Court Bar Association has reacted strongly to this, and issued a statement titled, “We are not dustbins.”
The Supreme Court has also initiated an internal inquiry against the judge, reports Live Law. All the five judges of the Supreme Court Collegium – CJI Khanna, Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Vikram Nath – agreed to the transfer proposal, but some of them felt that unless strict action is initiated, it will further erode public confidence in the higher judiciary. “We were assured by the CJI that the transfer is only the beginning and of course they will take further action. So we agreed to his proposal to transfer the judge back to the Allahabad High Court,” said a member of the Supreme Court Collegium.
“We have to send a strong message that any kind of nefarious activities will not be tolerated. By deciding to send him back only to his parent High Court, what are we trying to say? That our rules are different in our own case? Hopefully, now that everything is out in the open, the CJI and others will do something that should have been done earlier. First of all, the assignment should be taken back from him,” said a senior lawyer.
Another senior advocate, the judge also pointed to the fact that in dozens of cases, citizens, including politicians, have been jailed for months on the mere allegation that they were part of some scam involving cash. “But we have a case where cash was recovered from the house of a sitting judge. Was our response adequate?” he asked. Could this not have been done even when he was here? The SCC has already received a lot of negative publicity for being unable to take decisive action against Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, a judge of the Allahabad High Court, for his hate speech. Justice Verma, appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 12, 2014 and made permanent on February 1, 2016, was transferred to the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021, when Justice N.V. Ramana was the CJI.

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