The Supreme Court of Independent India came into existence on 26th January, 1950 and has since functioned as the top most institution for the judicial wing of our country. India has witnessed significant social, economic and political changes guided by law, and at the forefront of these changes are the esteemed Courts of our country. The Courts in India, including but not limited to the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts of the States, operate with impeccable integrity, serving justice and upholding the Rule of Law. If an analogy has to be drawn in terms of Financial Bonds the judicial integrity would be categorized as a triple AAA bond.
The framework of the Constitution guarantees, inter alia, separation of power to safeguard the judiciary from any interference in their functioning. Neither the Legislative nor the Executive wing, can interfere or dictate, with the decision making or the function of the Courts. However, the Constitution ensures that the separation of power is not misused and becomes a breeding ground for misuse of power by the functionaries in Judiciary. The Constitution provides for a process of Impeachment governed by Article 124(4) and (5), 217, and 218 read along with Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. For the sake of my colleagues, I will briefly explain what “impeachment” is and how the process of impeachment goes about in our country.
Impeachment, in the most basic sense, means removal of a judge from the office of judgeship, the grounds for such removal are “proved misbehaviour” and “incapacity”. In order to initiate an impeachment proceeding, a removal motion has to be signed in one of the houses of parliament. In case the motion is introduced in Lok Sabha then it should be signed by 100 members, and; in case it is introduced in Rajya Sabha then it should be signed by 50 members. After the motion is accepted, a three-member committee is constituted to investigate the charges levied against the judge. If the committee finds the judge to be guilty of “misbehaviour” or “incapacity” the house in which the motion was introduced considers it, and once passed it goes to the other house it is to be noted that a ‘special majority’ is required in both the houses for the motion to be sent to the President of India. The president then passes an order to remove the judge.
In the last 75 years, many judges were at the centre of impeachment proceeding and removal, however none of the motions ever materialised to actual Impeachment[1]. In a chronological order the judges who came under the crossfire of removal process were Justice V. Ramaswami (motion introduced in Lok Sabha and failed), Justice Soumitra Sen (resigned after motion was passed in Rajya Sabha), Justice J.B. Pardiwala, Justice S.K. Gangele, Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy, CJI Dipak Misra (draft proposal was signed by the opposition parties), Justice P.D. Dinakaran (resigned before the impeachment proceedings could be initiated) and the most recent being Justice Yashwant Varma.
To briefly refresh the memory of our readers, on 14th March, a fire broke out at the residence of the judge concerned, post which a large pile of unaccounted cash amounting to roughly 15 crore was found (though the accurate figure remains unconfirmed). On 22nd March 2025, the then Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituted an in-house three-member committee to investigate the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma who was then in the Delhi High Court. Hon’ble Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana HC; Hon’ble Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh HC; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court were selected as part of the committee.[2] The committee submitted its report on May 5th, 2025.[3]
Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna had also asked the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Hon’ble Justice D.K. Upadhyay, to file a report on the allegations levied against Justice Yashwant Varma and asked not to assign any work to him. Meanwhile, a written response was also sought from Justice Varma by 22nd March, by Chief Justice Upadhyay on behest of CJI Khanna. Justice Yashwant Varma was asked to explain, firstly, “How does he account for the presence of money/cash in the room located on the premises of his official residence?”, secondly, “Explain the source of money/cash which was found in the said room.” and lastly, “Who is the person who had removed the burnt money/cash from the room in the morning of 15th March?”
As per Supreme Court Observer Justice Varma denied all allegations and wrote “I state unequivocally that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members and strongly denounce the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. The suggestion that one would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse verges on the incredible and incredulous…”. Justice Yashwant Varma was transferred to the Allahabad High Court on 28th March and the Supreme Court directed the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to not assign any juidical work to him.
The report submitted by the committee indicates that Justice Yashwant Varma has failed to provide a reasonable explanation in his defence for the unaccounted cash received at his residence.[4]
On 8th May, following Justice Yashwant Varma’s indictment, former CJI Sanjiv Khanna recommended an impeachment to the centre.[5] The monsoon session of the parliament will begin on July 21 and will be convene on August 12, 2025, as announced by Mr. Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affair. Both the houses of Parliament- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will commence at 11 a.m. on the first sitting day. The matter of impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma is going to be tabled in this session.
It is important to follow the monsoon session of 2025 as we, as a fraternity might witness, possibly, the first ever impeachment in our legal history. On a other note, it is important to understand and remember that any views and opinions that have to be expressed on the issue should and must carry an undertone of respect, sensitivity and intellect- our faith in our judiciary is a cornerstone of our democracy, and we as stakeholders of law in India need to approach this historical event in an unbiased and factual manner.
*Law Graduate, Symbiosis Law School, Pune.
[1] https://www.scobserver.in/journal/number-of-times-impeachment-proceedings-were-initiated-against-a-supreme-court-or-high-court-judge/
[2] https://www.sci.gov.in/press-release-dated-march-22-2025/
[3] https://www.sci.gov.in/press-release-dated-may-5-2025/
[4] For the reference of readers- https://images.assettype.com/theleaflet/2025-06-19/wa7i2n01/Justice_Varma_Report___Leaflet_Exclusive.pdf
[5] https://www.sci.gov.in/press-release-dated-may-8-2025/ ; https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Jun/19/unnatural-conduct-no-plausible-explanation-sc-panel-recommends-justice-varmas-impeachment
2 thoughts on “Justice Yashwant Varma and the Echoes of Impeachment: Revisiting India’s Constitutional Mechanism”
Very well written article on the subject. Worth reading and understanding the background 👌
Dear keertesh well researched and balanced article..