New Delhi: In continuation of its protest against the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation for the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma from Delhi High Court back to Allahabad High Court, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association voiced its concerns in a meeting with Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal Wednesday.
The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the transfer Monday, days after allegations of unaccounted-for cash being found at his house surfaced. Post the collegium’s decision, the high court bar association went on an indefinite strike. Justice Varma has denied the allegations in his clarification to Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyaya.
Anil Tiwari, president of the bar association, met Meghwal in Delhi. “I’m very grateful to him for meeting us, and hearing us out patiently… I’m certain he will take an appropriate decision on this issue,” Tiwari told ThePrint. According to him, Meghwal listened to the bar association’s concerns, and the pros and cons of the transfer.
The high court bar association has been up in arms against Justice Varma’s transfer. Last Friday, it had issued a notice, saying that it was “taken aback” by the proposal to transfer Justice Varma to Allahabad, his parent high court, from where he was moved to Delhi in 2021.
“This decision of the collegium of the Supreme Court raises a serious question as to whether the Allahabad High Court is [a] thrash bin (sic)?” the notice marked to the chief justice and all judges of the high court had asserted.
In a resolution passed Monday, the association had demanded that all the judgments delivered by Justice Varma as a judge of the Allahabad and Delhi High Courts be “reviewed in order to inspire confidence of people at large to regain public faith in the judicial system”. It had also demanded Justice Varma’s impeachment, and an FIR against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and other investigative agencies.
The Delhi High Court had also announced Monday that judicial work has been withdrawn from Varma with immediate effect until further orders.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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