PIL in Allahabad High Court to halt swearing-in of Justice Yashwant Varma

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Allahabad High Court to halt the administration of oath to Justice Yashwant Varma who was recently transferred from Delhi to Allahabad amidst an in-house probe against him over allegations of possessing illicit cash. .The petition filed by advocate Vikash Chaturvedi through advocate Ashok Pandey claims that Justice Varma's transfer and proposed oath-taking violate the Constitution.According to the petitioner, it remains unclear what oath he will take, given that Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna had already directed the High Court Chief Justice not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma.“The question is, when the Chief Justice of India has ordered that Sri Yashwant Verma should not be allocated any work, then for what purpose will he be administered the oath by the Chief Justice of this High Court?”.The plea further contends that a judge swears an oath to faithfully perform the duties of his office. Therefore, the decision to withhold judicial work from Justice Varma after his oath-taking undermines its constitutional sanctity, reducing the process to a mere formality.The petitioner argues in his PIL that a judge cannot be denied work unless removed from office by an order of the President.The plea states that if the High Court confirms Justice Varma will be assigned judicial work like other High Court judges, the petitioner has no objection to the oath ceremony.In this regard, the petitioner has contended that the High Court Chief Justice, as the master of the roster, is responsible for assigning work to judges, and the Chief Justice of India has no role in this process.The petitioner has also sought quashing of transfer of Justice Varma from Delhi to Allahabad. .A fire at Justice Varma's house on the evening of March 14 had inadvertently led to the recovery of unaccounted cash by the fire fighters, as per news reports.A video of the recovery of burnt cash was also apparently shared by the Delhi Police Commissioner with the Chief Justice of the High Court.Justice Varma and his wife were not in Delhi and were travelling in Madhya Pradesh on the said day. Only his daughter and aged mother were at home when the fire broke out.The Chief Justice of India (CJI) on March 21 initiated an in-house probe into the allegations and set up a three-member committee to conduct the probe.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also published a report of Delhi High Court Chief Justice on the incident along with Justice Varma's response.Justice Varma's transfer to the Allahabad High Court Court was notified by the Central government on March 28 after the Supreme Court Collegium recommendation on March 24.The Supreme Court of India also asked the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to not assign any judicial work to Justice Varma.