Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday directed that Justice Yashwant Varma of Delhi High Court should not be assigned any judicial duty until further order following the alleged discovery of a huge stash of cash at his residence.

The CJI also constituted a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma, the second senior-most judge of Delhi High Court.

“The Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi for the time being has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Yashwant Varma. The report submitted by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, response of Justice Yashwant Varma, and other documents, are being uploaded on the Supreme Court website,” a statement issued by the additional registrar and public relations officer Rakesh Sharma said on Saturday night.

The panel comprises Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of Karnataka High Court.

The decision to constitute an in-house committee is significant and prima facie indicates that the allegations of a cash haul from Justice Varma’s official residence stood established.

Delhi High Court’s Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya had initiated an in-house inquiry over the incident and submitted a report to CJI Khanna on Friday night.

For the first time in the history of the Supreme Court, the CJI has decided to make the findings recorded by Chief Justice Upadhyaya and the response submitted by Justice Varma available on the apex court website.

If the in-house committee finds the charges against Justice Varma to be true, the CJI can ask him to either resign or seek voluntary retirement. If Justice Varma refuses to do so, the CJI can request the President to initiate impeachment proceedings against him in Parliament. So far, no judge has been impeached by Parliament.

The purported discovery of a huge stash of cash happened following a fire at Justice Varma’s Lutyens’ Delhi residence at 11.35pm on the night of Holi on March 14, prompting the fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse the flames.

The Supreme Court had on Friday denied a newspaper report about the purported transfer of Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court over the alleged cash haul.

In a media release, the apex court had said the proposal to transfer Justice Varma was still under the Supreme Court collegium’s consideration. It said the matter was “independent” of any “in-house enquiry”.

It did not say what the enquiry was about.

“There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Mr Justice Yashwant Varma,” the statement said without clarifying the “incident”.

“The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court commenced the in-house enquiry procedure collecting evidence and information... and will be submitting his report to the Chief Justice of India. The report will be examined and processed for further and necessary action.”