‘Cash at Judge Home’: Justice Yashwant Verma sworn in Allahabad High Court

Allahabad: Close to the ‘Cash at Home’ episode in New Delhi, Justice Yashwant Verma was sworn in as a judge of the Allahabad High Court in a private chamber on Saturday. They will not be assigned any judicial work for now.

His transfer from Delhi High Court to Allahabad was approved by the Central Government on 28 March amid in-house investigation.

Justice Verma is entangled in a dispute around the alleged discovery of a huge pile of cash burnt in his bungalow in the national capital after going there to take the fire brigade on 14 March.

Soon after the incident, he denied any wrongdoing, even investigators collected the burnt notes from the fire scene, received videos of firefighting tested in forensic labs and asked Justice Verma and his employees to preserve their phone and call records.

Justice Verma, the second senior most senior judge of the Delhi High Court, was stopped before he was sent to Allahabad. His innings in Uttar Pradesh came in Lucknow and Allahabad despite protests by bar associations.

A notification issued by the Union Law and Justice Ministry on his transfer states, “In the practice of power provided by section (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to move to the judicial Yashwant Verma, Judge, Delhi High Court Judge, after consulting the Chief Justice of India.”

The notification came within the days of the collegium of the Supreme Court, which recommends the Center to recommend justice to the Allahabad High Court under the chairmanship of CJI Sanjeev Khanna.

Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition demanding an FIR against Justice Verma, calling the petition “prematurely”.

Earlier, a statement uploaded on the Apex Court website said, “In its meetings held on 20 and 24 March 2025, the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the recommendation of Justice Yashwant Verma, Judge, Judge in the High Court of High Court in Allahabad.”

While Justice Verma has denied any wrongdoing, CJI Khanna formed a 3-member committee to check the “Cash at Home” episode in the last week of March.

Earlier, the apex court in a statement made it clear that the proposal for the transfer of Nyaya Verma to its parents High Court in Allahabad, where he would be ninth in seniority, is “independent and different from the in-house inquiry process.”