PRAYAGRAJ: Justice Yashwant Varma, the Delhi high court judge in whose official bungalow a fire led to accidental discovery of unaccounted cash, was a lawyer at Allahabad HC and briefly the erstwhile Samajwadi Party govt’s chief standing counsel before being made a permanent judge in 2016. He was transferred to Delhi HC in 2021.
Justice Varma is the son of former Allahabad HC judge A N Varma and a nephew of senior advocate S N Varma. The family’s ancestral house in Allahabad’s Civil Lines neighbourhood is considered a landmark.
Born on Jan 6, 1969, in Prayagraj, he studied for a BCom degree at Delhi University’s Hansraj College before pursuing law. He went on to earn an LLB degree from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa University and became an advocate in 1992.
Justice Varma handled mainly civil cases pertaining to constitutional, industrial, corporate, taxation and environment-related disputes.
In 2006, he was appointed as special counsel at Allahabad HC, going on to serve as the UP govt’s chief standing counsel from till Aug 2013. He was elevated to the post of additional judge on Oct 13, 2014, and took oath as a permanent judge on Feb 1, 2016.
