Congress Questions Cash Recovery from Delhi HC Judge’s House: ‘Whose Money Was It?’

Congress Questions Cash Recovery from Delhi HC Judge’s House: The transfer of Justice Yashwant-verma of the Delhi High Court - whose house saw the recovery of a raid that threw up a pile of cash unaccounted for only last week - is not the 'last word', NDTV was informed on Friday afternoon. It confirmed that the Supreme Court, meanwhile, has ordered a preliminary inquiry into the matter.

Pending the outcome of the investigation, under the Constitution's Article 124(4), Justice Varma (56) may be asked to resign or remove him from office by Parliament.

Sources also said the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Sanjiv Khanna, had sought a report from the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, DK Upadhyaya, which shall be submitted either later today or tomorrow, and also briefed fellow judges in the Supreme Court. Discussions lasted for almost half an hour, sources said.

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Many concerned judges suggested that Justice Varma stands down from active duty and were told that the action shall be taken and that his transfer was the first step in that direction.

The Supreme Court formulated guidelines in 1999 to regulate allegations of corruption, wrongdoing, and judicial misbehaviour against judges of the Constitutional Court.

As per the guidelines laid down, the Chief Justice will seek the concerned judge's reply after a complaint is lodged. If he is not satisfied with the reply or considers that the matter requires a deeper investigation, he will set up an internal committee.

The committee will comprise one judge of the Supreme Court and two chief justices from the High Court.

Following the receipt of the report by the committee, if the Chief Justice is of the opinion that the misconduct alleged rises to such gravity as to warrant removal, he will lay before the judge the necessity of resigning.

If the judge refused to resign, the Chief Justice would inform the government in writing so that removal proceedings may be initiated in Parliament, pursuant to the provisions of Article 124(4) of the Constitution.

Calls For Action Against Justice Varma

The Congress had taken a very strong stand, claiming that Justice Verma had ruled on some highly debatable issues, including the Unnao rape case. "To maintain faith in the judiciary, it is important to find out whose money it is and why it was given to the judge...", spokesperson Pawan Khera said.

Justice Varma - who has yet to make a comment and is "on leave"- would be transferred back to his parent High Court at Allahabad, as earlier resolved by the Supreme Court Collegium, awaiting clearance from the centre.

On the contrary, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association was against his transfer. The association, in a hard-hitting letter to the Chief Justice of the said court, questioned whether the Allahabad High Court was a "trash bin".

A controversy against Justice Varma, who in 2021 was appointed to the Delhi High Court, erupted during Holi last week when firefighting was required to extinguish a fire at his bungalow in Delhi.

They discovered the cash, called the police, and as the news trickled through the official channels, the Supreme Court was alerted, and the five-member Collegium was convened.

Sources say that the Chief Justice took an extremely serious view of the discovery of cash and the Collegium agreed, transferring Justice Varma by unanimous decision.

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There were also rumblings that Justice Varma could be asked to resign.

The controversy has elicited expressions of condemnation about the working of the Supreme Court Collegium mandated to vet and appoint judges to the High Court and its benches.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising have called upon the Collegium to turn its focus to the issue of corruption in the judiciary, with Mr Sibal, now also a Rajya Sabha MP, saying, "... this is not something articulated by senior councils and lawyers for the first time..."

VIDEO | On recovery of cash from Delhi High Court judge's residence, advocate Indira Jaising says, "My approach would be to question the collegium and the way it functions. That was a duty cost upon the collegium to make a full free and frank disclosure of the facts of the case… pic.twitter.com/wLSjflEBlb

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 21, 2025

Ms Jaising, meanwhile, told news agency PTI, "... there was a duty cost upon the Collegium to make a full, free, and frank disclosure of the facts of the case when this matter came to its attention. There is also a duty cast on the Collegium to disclose the amount recovered."

This matter also reached Parliament after the Congress' Rajya Sabha MP, Jairam Ramesh, raised it before the Chairperson - Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is a lawyer himself.

Mr Dhankhar remarked that what bothered him the most was that this came to light so late, and he called for a "systemic response... which is transparent, accountable, and effective..."

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