New Delhi: Justice Yashwant Varma has resigned from his post as a judge of the Allahabad High Court amid an ongoing impeachment process linked to corruption allegations.
Justice Varma had faced scrutiny after a large amount of cash was recovered from his official residence in Delhi last year. He had denied any connection to the cash, stating that neither he nor his family had stored money at the location.
In his resignation letter addressed to President Droupadi Murmu, the judge did not specify the reasons behind his decision. He conveyed that he was stepping down with immediate effect and expressed anguish over the circumstances leading to the move, according to media reports.
It is believed that the resignation could bring the impeachment proceedings against him to an end.
Following his resignation, Justice Varma will remain eligible for pension and other post-retirement benefits available to High Court judges. Such benefits could have been withdrawn if he had been removed through the parliamentary process.
The impeachment proceedings were linked to an incident on March 14, 2025, when a significant amount of cash was reportedly recovered from his official residence in Lutyens’ Delhi. At the time, Justice Varma was serving as a judge of the Delhi High Court and was not present at the residence, as he and his wife were in Bhopal.
He had maintained that the storeroom where the cash was found was accessible to multiple individuals and denied any ownership of the money.
On March 22, 2025, the Supreme Court constituted a three-judge committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into the matter. The panel later submitted its findings in May to then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
Subsequently, the court withdrew judicial work from Justice Varma at the Delhi High Court and transferred him to the Allahabad High Court, directing that no judicial responsibilities be assigned to him. In an unprecedented step, the court also made public images and videos related to the alleged cash recovery.
