Real ‘cash-burn’: Who is Delhi HC judge Yashwant Varma's godfather?

New Delhi: Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Verma, who is in the limelight again after the alleged discovery of Rs 15 crore from his official residence, was named as an accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018 for his role as a non-executive director in a sugar company, prior to becoming a judge. 

The Intelligence Bureau (IB), which highlights even sexuality of prospective judges, must have given a clean chit to Varma before his elevation.

Varma, while serving the Allahabad High Court as a judge, shared the bench with the then Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, also known as DYC in legal circles.

Later, when DYC reached the Supreme Court collegium, apparently at his insistence, he was brought to the Delhi High Court on transfer.

Interestingly, months before his retirement, DYC decided that the CBI inquiry is uncalled for granting huge relief to Varma and others. Like in many other cases during DYC’s tenure, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta ably assisted him in this case too.

The whole procedure of transfer by collegium is fraught with serious lacuna. It provides room for punishing and moving out inconvenient judges from specific cases by way of transfer. 

For those interested in Varma’s matter, a plain look at the years of his appointment as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court, confirmation as a permanent judge and transfer to the Delhi High Court - will leave no doubt unanswered about who his godfather in the judiciary is.

The SC Collegium has now asked for views of the Allahabad High Court on its proposal to transfer Varma back. Will the Allahabad High Court agree to take back a tainted one remains to be seen?

(Disclaimer: Nagendar Sharma is a senior journalist and currently associated with earshot.in. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NewsDrum.in and we do not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)