Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Thursday assured representatives of six Bar associations that the Supreme Court collegium would consider their plea to withdraw Justice Yashwant Varma’s transfer to Allahabad High Court, a delegate who attended the meeting said.

One of these six high court Bar associations — that of Allahabad — has been on an indefinite strike since March 25, the day after the collegium decided to repatriate Justice Varma, a Delhi High Court judge, to Allahabad.

The other five Bar associations — from Jabalpur, Lucknow, Gujarat, Kerala and Karnataka — are supporting their Allahabad counterpart.

Justice Varma has been relieved of his judicial duties following reports that said sackfuls of partially burnt cash had been discovered on his residential premises during a fire on March 14. The apex court has begun an in-house inquiry into the allegation, which the judge denies.

A delegation from the six Bar associations met Justice Khanna and the four other collegium members — Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Vikram Nath — in the afternoon to convey their opposition to Justice Varma’s repatriation to Allahabad.

While there was no official word on the collegium’s stand, Allahabad High Court Bar Association president Anil Kumar Tiwari told reporters that Justice Khanna had promised to look into their demand to withdraw the transfer recommendation.

The six Bar associations have also sought the registration of an FIR, flagging reports of possible tampering of evidence. They have asked that Justice Varma be relieved of any administrative duties as well.

They also want a reassessment of the in-house procedure to ensure more accountability from Supreme Court and high court judges.

A joint statement from the six Bar associations appreciated Justice Khanna’s efforts “to embrace transparency and to make public the (probe) report of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi (on the alleged cash discovery) and other materials on the website of the Supreme Court of India”.

It asked the CJI “to set the criminal law in motion as is applicable to any government servant”.

“According to the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, somebody removed the articles from the premises on 15.03.2025, and had the criminal law been set in motion, the evidence would not have been destroyed. In these kinds of crimes, there would be involvement of others and non-registration would adversely affect their prosecution,” the joint statement said.

It asked the CJI “to lay down accountability standards for judges of higher judiciary and reassess the current in-house procedure....”