New DelhiJul 18, 2025 09:54 IST
First published on: Jul 18, 2025 at 09:29 IST
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The Lok Sabha is likely to take up a motion seeking the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma, who has been indicted by the Supreme Court after wads of currency notes were discovered at his official residence in Delhi, in the first week of the Monsoon Session beginning July 21, sources said.
Varma, currently a judge at Allahabad High Court, has moved the Supreme Court challenging the apex court’s in-house inquiry report, The Indian Express has learnt.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told The Indian Express, “The removal of a Supreme Court or a High Court judge is a matter that is the authority of Parliament. It is independent of what is happening in the Supreme Court.”
Rijiju has been talking to the leaders of all parties to arrive at a consensus over the matter before moving the motion of removal. “The impeachment of a High Court or Supreme Court judge on corruption issues cannot be political. Government should take everyone on board as there is no scope for differences among parties on this,” Rijiju has said.
It is learnt that Rijiju has already conveyed to the Opposition leaders that there has to be a “unified stand” on this matter.
The notices for the removal motion will be signed by MPs from different parties. For a motion of impeachment to be taken up, it has to be moved by not less than 100 members in the Lower House.
Once the MPs submit the motion, the presiding officer of the House can either accept or reject it. After a motion for impeachment is adopted by either House, the Speaker/ Chairman has to constitute a three-member committee of inquiry, headed by the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, and including a Chief Justice of any High Court, and a person who is in the opinion of the Speaker/Chairman, a “distinguished jurist”. If the committee renders a guilty finding, the report of the committee is then adopted by the House in which it was introduced, and the judge’s removal is debated.
Sources said the government is exploring ways to complete the removal process in the Monsoon Session itself.
A three-member committee appointed by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna—comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court— has already indicted Justice Varma.