Cash recovery row: Justice Varma dropped from Monday’s Delhi HC hearings

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court registrar has released a circular indicating that

Justice Yashwant Varma

's scheduled cases for Monday have been removed from today's hearing list.
This development follows an ongoing

in-house investigation

initiated after substantial cash was discovered at his official residence during a fire-fighting operation.
The circular states: "W.P.(C) 6728/2024 listed before special division bench comprising Hon'ble Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ravinder Dudeja at item no. 1 is deleted as the same is listed before Hon'ble DB-II."
This comes after

CJI Sanjiv Khanna

appointed a three-judge panel, comprising two HC chief justices and one HC judge, to inquire into the charges.

The panel comprising Punjab and Haryana HC CJ Sheel Nagi, Himachal Pradesh HC CJ GS Sandhawalia, and Karnataka HC's Anu Sivaraman will "inquire into the allegations against Justice Varma, a sitting judge of the Delhi HC," the SC said in a late evening press release. No time limit has been fixed by the CJI for the panel to complete inquiry proceedings.
On March 14, during Holi festivities, a fire reportedly occurred in the early hours at Justice Varma's official Tughlaq Road residence in Lutyens Delhi.
Emergency responders, including police and fire services, arrived to control the blaze and reportedly discovered significant cash holdings in one of the property's outhouses. Senior officials were notified, who subsequently informed the Chief Justice of India on March 15.
The CJI then directed the Delhi high court Chief Justice to provide a report on the incident, including Justice Varma's explanation regarding the alleged cash discovery.
The Supreme Court stated on Friday that upon receiving this information, the Delhi High Court Chief Justice began internal investigation procedures, gathering evidence prior to the collegium meeting on March 20.