Justice Yashwant Varma Resigns Amid Cash Discovery Controversy
Allahabad High Court judge quits after transfer from Delhi High Court; in-house probe and possible removal proceedings underway
NEW DELHI: Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, facing impeachment proceedings over corruption allegations after wads of burnt currency notes were found at his residence in the national capital last year, has submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu.
With this, the rare impeachment proceedings initiated by the Lok Sabha against Justice Varma have been rendered "infructuous". The judge submitted his resignation in a letter sent to President Droupadi Murmu on April 9.
To prevent his removal by Parliament, resignation was the only option left for the judge, who withdrew from the inquiry proceedings by a Lok Sabha-appointed panel. The judge was due to superannuate on January 5, 2031.
The purported discovery of a huge stash of cash took place after a fire broke out at the Lutyens' Delhi residence of Justice Varma, then a Delhi High Court judge, at around 11:35 pm on Holi on March 14, 2025, prompting the fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse the flames.
In his letter, Justice Varma, 57, said he was tendering his resignation with "deep anguish" and that it was an honour to serve the office.
"Your Excellency, While I do not propose to burden your august office with the reasons which have constrained me to submit this missive, it is with deep anguish that I hereby tender my resignation from the office of Judge of the Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, with immediate effect. It has been an honour to serve in this office," the letter said.
President of Allahabad High Court Bar Association Rakesh Pande welcomed Justice Varma's resignation that brought an abrupt end to the impeachment proceedings but said he should have taken the step earlier and put an end to a needless controversy.
A judge of a constitutional court can only be removed from office through an impeachment motion passed by Parliament.
Calling himself a victim of a "vilification" campaign, Justice Varma also wrote a separate letter to the inquiry committee appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and expressed his "anguish". He also listed out reasons for withdrawing himself from the inquiry.
The judge said his continued participation would legitimise an earlier inquiry where he was asked to "answer the unanswerable" question on the source of money from his residence.
In his 13-page letter, Justice Varma said that in his career as a judge of a High Court for over 11 years, he was not once alleged to have indulged in corruption or judicial impropriety. The judge said he would be doing himself and the institution the greatest disservice by "continuing to participate in the present proceedings.
"I therefore withdraw from these proceedings with immediate effect and have instructed my Advocates accordingly. I withdraw with the deepest sadness, conscious of the gravity of my decision and with the hope that history will one day record the unfairness with which a sitting High Court Judge was treated and that has marked this entire episode from its inception," Justice Varma wrote.
Speaker Birla also addressed the issue of the judge's resignation.
"When the impeachment motion came to Parliament, we had constituted a committee. Now, whether his resignation has reached or not, only the President (or President's office)," Birla said in response to a question by an agency at a news conference in Panaji.
A three-member inquiry committee comprising Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior advocate B.V. Acharya was conducting the inquiry, a mandatory procedure before an impeachment motion.
