Justice Yashwant Varma, the sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court submitted his resignation to the President of India, with immediate effect.
On 14 March 2025, a fire broke out in the residential bungalow of Justice Varma, and the family members called the fire brigade and the police, leading to the alleged discovery of a huge pile of unaccounted cash amounting to Rs. 15 crores.
The Supreme Court Collegium called an extraordinary meeting to discuss the matter and pondered over transferring Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent Court i.e. Allahabad High Court. An in-house inquiry was initiated by the Supreme Court into allegations of discovery of a huge pile of unaccounted cash.
However, the news of Justice Varma’s possible transfer to the Allahabad High Court has not gone down well with Allahabad High Court Bar Association. In an open letter, questions have been raised against the Collegium’s decision, stating- whether the Allahabad High Court is a trash bin? The letter also highlights the shortage of Judges in the Allahabad High Court.
The then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had constituted a 3-member Committee to conduct an inquiry into the matter, as part of the in-house enquiry. In response to Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya’s letter seeking information on the incident and explanation on account of alleged cash, Justice Varma denied all the allegations stating the following-
“No cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members and strongly denounce the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. The suggestion that one would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse verge on the incredible and incredulous. It is a room which is completely disassociated from my living areas and a boundary wall demarcates my living area from that outhouse. I only wish that the media had conducted some enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press.”
During the pendency of the in-house inquiry, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended Justice Varma’s transfer to his parent High Court at Allahabad. The recommendation of transfer was accepted by the President and subsequently on 5 May 2025, Justice Yashwant Varma took oath as Judge of Allahabad High Court.
The Supreme Court of India, by press release dated 5 May 2025, notified that the 3-Member Committee constituted for conducting an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, has submitted its report dated 3 May 2025 to the Chief Justice of India on 4 May 2025.
146 Members of Parliament submitted a proposal seeking Justice Yashwant Varma’s removal on grounds linked to the unexplained cash recovery and constitutional provisions. Prior in-house inquiries found the allegations grave enough to trigger formal proceedings, prompting the Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla, on 12 August 2025, to constitute a 3 Member Inquiry Committee to investigate allegations against Justice Varma, under Section 3(2) of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. The Committee was tasked with conducting a thorough investigation and submit its report in due course. Until then, the motion for Justice Varma’s removal remains pending.
Justice Varma filed X4 v. Union of India, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 1646, seeking declaration of Paragraphs 5(b) and 7 of In-House Procedure dated 15 December 999 to the extent that it enables the In-House Committee to inquire and comment on the existence of ‘serious misconduct warranting removal’ and the CJI to intimate the same to the President and the Prime Minister for initiating proceedings for removal and other consequential action, as unconstitutional and ultra vires; and set aside the Final Report dated 3 May 2025 submitted by the Committee, and all consequential actions taken pursuant to the same. The Court dismissed the writ petition and opined that if indeed any fault were found in the Procedure and questions were to be raised, the Petitioner ought not to have waited for completion of the fact-finding inquiry set in motion by the CJI. The Court further held that the in-house inquiry or its report forming part of the Procedure in itself does not lead to removal of a Judge, unlike the constitutionally ordained procedure. Thus, the in-house inquiry is not a removal mechanism in the first place, much less an extra-constitutional mechanism.
The Supreme Court in X v. Office of the Speaker of the House of People, 2026 SCC OnLine SC 91, dismissed the writ petition challenging the impeachment proceeding against Justice Varma in Parliament holding that Article 32 cannot be invoked to interfere with parliamentary procedure absent infringement of Fundamental Rights.
On 25 February 2026, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, reconstituted the 3 Member Inquiry Committee to investigate allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma.
Justice Varma tendered his resignation from the office of Judge of the Allahabad High Court with immediate effect to the President of India. He said that “it is with deep anguish that I tender my resignation from the office of Judge of the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad with immediate effect.”
