The Centre on Friday issued a notification transferring Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court, a day after Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna purportedly assured representatives of six Bar associations that his repatriation would be reconsidered following lawyers’ protests.

Sackfuls of cash had allegedly been discovered from the judge’s residential premises in Delhi.

The timing of the notification, which precluded a rethink on Justice Varma’s repatriation, came as a surprise to many.

The Supreme Court on Friday evening issued a statement saying the chief justice of Allahabad High Court had been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma for now.

Justice Varma, who was till recently a Delhi High Court judge, was sucked into a controversy after wads of partially burnt currency notes were allegedly discovered during a fire at an outhouse storeroom of his official bungalow on March 14 night. The judge has denied stashing cash.

On March 24, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court.

Following a directive from the CJI, Delhi High Court had previously withdrawn work from the judge until further orders, pending an inquiry by a three-judge panel.

On Friday, an official notification issued by Jagannath Srinivasan, joint secretary (appointments) in the justice department, said: “In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer Shri Justice Yashwant Varma, Judge, Delhi High Court, to be a Judge of Allahabad High Court and to direct him to assume charge of his office in the Allahabad High Court.”

A few hours later, the Supreme Court issued a media release which stated: “The Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Mr Justice Yashwant Varma, when he assumes charge as a judge of the Allahabad High Court.”

CJI Khanna had on Thursday assured representatives of six Bar associations that the collegium would consider their demand to withdraw the recommendation to repatriate Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court.

The Bar associations had also sought the registration of an FIR against Justice Varma over reports of alleged tampering with evidence and reassessment of the in-house procedure to ensure more accountability from judges in the higher judiciary.

On Friday, a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan refrained from passing any direction on the plea for registration of an FIR against Justice Varma, saying an in-house inquiry was in progress and there would be several options open to the CJI after the probe concludes.

“Heard the first petitioner appearing in person. As far as the grievance regarding the third respondent is concerned (FIR), as can be seen from the website of this court, an in-house procedure has been adopted as directed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India. The inquiry pursuant to the in-house procedure is in progress. After the report is submitted by the committee, there will be several options open for Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India. Therefore, at this stage, it will not be appropriate to entertain this writ petition,” the bench said in its order.

“There are wider prayers for reading down some of the decisions of this court. At this stage, according to us, it is not necessary to go into that aspect. Subject to what is observed above, the writ petition is disposed of,” the bench added.

The apex court passed the order while disposing of a PIL jointly filed by advocate Mathew J. Nedumpura and three others seeking registration of an FIR against Justice Varma and urging the Supreme Court to recall its 1991 judgment wherein it had laid down that no FIR could be registered against a sitting high court or Supreme Court judge without the approval of the CJI.

The CJI had on March 22 constituted the three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into the allegations. Then, in a first in Indian legal history, the apex court uploaded on its website a redacted version of the Delhi High Court chief justice’s preliminary inquiry report alongside a defence by Justice Varma. The report included photos and videos of the alleged discovery of the cash.