Bhubaneswar: The unearthing of huge cash amounting to over Rs 10cr stocked in jute bags at a sitting High Court Judge has become the talk of the nation with the shadow of corruption looming large over the Judiciary of India.
As per Delhi Fire Services Chief’s statement to PTI shows that the fire incident at the house of the Delhi HC Judge took place on March 14. Here are the excerpts of the Statement and the TIMELINE
INFERNO TIMELINE
- March 14, 11:35PM: Fire control room received a call from Justice Verma’s official residence at Lutyen’s.
- 11:43PM: 2 Fire tenders reached the spot .
- 12:00 AM: Fire was controlled within 15 minutes.
- Fire spot: Store room where stationeries and domestic articles stocked.
- After fire fighting over, Delhi Fire Services informed Delhi Police.
- The DFS chief claimed that fire fighting personnel hadn’t come across any stocked cash.
- This shows the Delhi police stumble upon the jute bag stashed with cash.
- Delhi Fire services had not revealed the cause of the fire at HC Judge’s house.
- CASH RECOVERY SPOT: Outhouse of the Residence, reports say.
The above details show the fire incident at the house of the Delhi HC Judge took place on March 14, and the news occupied national news landscape on March 20 – the day when the SC collegium transferred Justice Verma to his parent court Allahabad HC.
SUPREME COURT PRESS RELEASE DETAILS
Here are the excerpts of SC Collegium Press Release. The release at the outset has stated the following.
- There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma.
- In-house enquiry procedure set up as per the following prescriptions.
- Prescribed by the Supreme Court in C. Ravichandran Iyer v. Justice A.M. Bhattacharjee (1995) 5 SCC 457is available on the website of the Supreme Court of India.
- The In-house procedure was elucidated and explained in Additional District and Sessions Judge ‘X’ v.Registrar General, High Court of Madhya Pradesh (2015) 4 SCC91
- On receiving the information, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court commenced the In-house enquiry procedure collecting evidence and information.
- 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 21stMarch 2025.
- The report will be examined and processed for further and necessary action
- The proposal for transfer of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be 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 and four senior most Judges of the Supreme Court on 20thMarch 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.
A glance at the above press release of the Supreme Court brings down the following to fore.
- The stumbling of huge cash at a Judge’s house was communicated to Delhi HC CJ soon after the incident.
- As per procedure, CJ Delhi conducted an inquiry soon after.
- SC collegium ordered transfer prior to the submission of the Delhi HC CJ report.
- But the SC collegium by ordering his transfer seems to have demoted Justice Verma.
- It is so because, as per the SC Press Release, Justice Verma has been 2nd senior most Judge in Delhi HC, but post transfer to Allahabad HC, he will become 9th in seniority list there.
- By making Justice Verma 9th in seniority, will no longer make him eligible to sit in the HC collegium.
- As per the release, the Delhi HC inquiry report would have been submitted Friday.
- The in-house inquiry is on.
WHY NO FIR ON JUSTICE VERMA?
Even as all are equal before the Indian law, there are special guidelines to lodge FIR against a Judge.
The guidelines have been laid down by a majority judgment delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the case of K Veeraswami (1991)
WHAT THE JUDGEMNT SAID?
Supreme Court held that no criminal case shall be registered under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code (an FIR) against a
- Judge of HC
- Chief Justice of HC
- Judge of SC
An FIR cannot be filed on the above designations without the government consulting the Chief Justice of India. (CJI).
REASON: CJI has been the “participatory functionary” in the appointment of judges.
The judgment held the following.
- Criminal proceedings against a judge will begin only after CJI finds the allegations against the judge are reasonable and based on evidence.
- Government can initiate criminal proceedings against a Judge under sub-section (2) of the Section 3 of Judges Protection Act 1985, only after producing material evidence that a judgment passed by a Judge after taking bribe.
It is the above guidelines that have been the reason behind no FIR filed against the sitting Judge after discovery of Rs 10 cr cash at home.
ABOUT JUSTICE VARMA
Date of Birth: Jan 6 1969. Education: B.Com [Honours], Delhi University. LLB degree from Rewa University, MP.
- Enrolled as an Advocate on 8 August 1992.
- Practiced in Allahabad High Court on matters relating to constitutional, labour and industrial legislations, corporate laws, taxation and allied branches of law.
- Special Counsel for the Allahabad High Court from 2006.
- Became Senior Advocate in year 2013.
- Appointed as an Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court on 13 October 2014 based on the decision of SC collegium led by the then CJI HL Dattu.
- Made Permanent Judge of that Court on 01 February 2016 as per the decision of SC Collegium led by the then CJI TS Thakur
- Appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Delhi on 11 October 2021 as per the decision of SC collegium led by the then CJI NV Ramana.
