Justice Yashwant Varma was sworn in as a judge of the Allahabad High Court today, April 5, following his recent transfer from the Delhi High Court to his parent High Court.

The transfer comes in the backdrop of an ongoing in-house inquiry into the recovery of unaccounted cash from Justice Varma's residence. The money was discovered by firefighters who were responding to a fire at his home on the evening of March 14.

At the time of the incident, Justice Varma and his wife were out of town, travelling in Madhya Pradesh. His daughter and elderly mother were present at the residence when the fire broke out.

The incident sparked a wave of controversy, with allegations of corruption and calls for impeachment emerging after the cash recovery. On March 21, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna ordered an in-house investigation into the matter, assigning a panel of three High Court judges to conduct the probe. Justice Varma, for his part, has denied any wrongdoing and suggested that he may be the target of a conspiracy.

The Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation to transfer Justice Varma to the Allahabad High Court triggered protests from lawyers’ bodies in Uttar Pradesh. Both the Allahabad and Lucknow Bar Associations opposed the move, with the Allahabad High Court Bar Association even calling for an indefinite strike. However, the strike was called off on March 29, a day after CJI Khanna directed the Chief Justice of the High Court not to allocate any judicial work to Justice Varma until the inquiry concludes.

Despite the lingering controversy and continued concerns from sections of the legal fraternity, Justice Varma formally took his oath today as a judge of the Allahabad High Court