Amidst corruption allegations, Justice Yashwant Varma takes oath as Allahabad High Court judge

Justice Yashwant Varma was sworn in as a judge of the Allahabad High Court today, April 5..Justice Varma was recently transferred from Delhi to his parent High Court - the Allahabad High Court - amid an in-house probe into unaccounted cash recovered from his residence by firefighters who had arrived to douse a fire.The Supreme Court Collegium's decision to transfer Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court amid this controversy was met with stiff resistance from lawyers' associations in Uttar Pradesh. However, the Central government cleared the transfer on March 28.Despite protests from the Allahabad and Lucknow Bar Associations, Justice Varma took his oath as an Allahabad High Court judge today..However, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has asked the High Court's Chief Justice not to assign Justice Varma any judicial work for the time being. The in-house inquiry into the cash recovered at Justice Varma's residence is yet to conclude..Controversy erupted last month after a fire at Justice Varma's house on the evening of March 14 inadvertently led to the recovery of a large number of cash notes by the firefighters.Justice Varma and his wife were not in Delhi at the time and were travelling in Madhya Pradesh. Only his daughter and aged mother were at home when the fire broke out.The recovery of the cash sparked allegations of corruption against the judge and even calls to impeach him. On March 21, CJI Khanna initiated an in-house probe into the matter and tasked three High Court judges with carrying out this inquiry.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also published a report of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice on the incident, along with Justice Varma's response. Justice Varma denied any wrongdoing and maintained that there may be a conspiracy to frame him at play. .The news of his transfer to the Allahabad High Court had led the Allahabad High Court Bar Association to declare an indefinite strike.However, the strike was suspended on March 29, a day after the CJI told the High Court Chief Justice not to assign Justice Varma any judicial work for now.