Lucknow/Prayagraj (UP), April 10 Rakesh Pande, President of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association, welcomed Justice Yashwant Varma's resignation on Friday, but said he should have taken the step earlier to end the unnecessary controversy.
"If Justice Yashwant Varma wanted to resign, it would have been better for all of us if he had done so much earlier. This merely created unnecessary controversy. It tarnished the image of everyone involved – the high court, the entire judiciary, and him.
"If he was going to fight (the corruption charges against him), he should have continued to fight. And if he intended to resign, he could have done it right at the beginning. Nevertheless, his resignation now is a welcome step. He has acted sensibly," Pande told
Justice Varma of the Allahabad High Court, who was facing impeachment proceedings after stacks of burnt currency notes were found at his residence in Delhi, has submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu, sources said on Friday.
Due to his resignation, the impeachment proceedings against him have become futile.
Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court after the currency notes were purportedly found on March 14 last year. The discovery of the cash occurred following a fire there around 11.35 pm that day. Fire officials responded to a distress call and extinguished the blaze.
The apex court collegium, headed by then CJI Sanjiv Khanna, and the Delhi High Court subsequently issued a series of directives, including the withdrawal of judicial work from Justice Varma.
Justice Varma "unequivocally" denied that the cash was placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members while "strongly denouncing the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged" to them.
He said the allegations of cash discovery from his official residence clearly appeared to be a conspiracy to frame and malign him.
Justice Varma was enrolled as an advocate on August 8, 1992. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014.
He took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court on February 1, 2016, before being appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021.