Justice Yashwant Varma
NEW DELHI: Justice Yashwant Varma on Friday submitted his resignation to the President, stating that he was stepping down ‘with immediate effect’ and expressed ‘deep anguish’ in his letter.His resignation comes amid the ongoing cash recovery controversy and impeachment process.In his April 9 letter addressed to Droupadi Murmu, Justice Varma said that he did not wish to ‘burden’ the President’s ‘august office’ with the reasons behind his decision.“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,” he wrote. Justice Varma, who is a judge of the Allahabad high court had earlier been transferred from the Delhi high court following the controversy linked to the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash at his residence. He took an oath in Allahabad high court on April 5 last year and was subsequently placed under a Supreme Court-led in-house inquiry, which recommended further action. His resignation comes at a time when both an internal inquiry and the possibility of parliamentary impeachment proceedings were underway. The Lok Sabha Speaker had accepted a motion signed by 146 Members of Parliament and constituted a three-member committee to examine the allegations.The case centres on allegations that unaccounted cash was recovered after a fire broke out in a storeroom at Justice Varma’s official residence on March 14. Fire tenders responding to the incident discovered substantial amounts of cash. The judge was not present at the residence at the time.The incident triggered an in-house inquiry by the Supreme Court, the findings of which led to the initiation of impeachment proceedings in Parliament. A parliamentary panel has since conducted hearings and examined documents as part of the process.In his response to the panel, Justice Varma denied that any cash recovered belonged to him and maintained that no such recovery was made from his residence. He also reiterated that he was not present at the time of the fire.
