Cash row: Supreme Court rejects Justice Yashwant Varma’s plea challenging impeachment proceedings

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma challenging the Lok Sabha Speaker’s decision to admit a motion seeking his removal and questioning the legality of the parliamentary committee probing corruption allegations against him.

A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and S C Sharma delivered the verdict, having reserved its judgment on 8 January after hearing detailed arguments from both sides.

Justice Varma had argued that the process adopted by Parliament was unconstitutional and contrary to the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. He contended that only the Lok Sabha Speaker or the Rajya Sabha Chairman had the authority to admit or reject a motion for the removal of a judge, and that the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha lacked such powers.

During earlier hearings, however, the Supreme Court rejected this line of reasoning, observing that if the Vice President can discharge the functions of the President in the latter’s absence, there was no reason why the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha could not exercise the powers of the Chairman when required.

The court had also previously noted that there was no legal bar under the Judges (Inquiry) Act preventing Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from constituting an inquiry committee, even after a similar motion against Justice Varma was not admitted in the Rajya Sabha.

The case stems from events in March last year, when burnt wads of currency notes were found at Justice Varma’s official residence in New Delhi. Following the incident, he was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court.

An in-house inquiry was initiated by the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, who set up a three-member committee comprising the Chief Justices of the Punjab and Haryana and Himachal Pradesh High Courts, along with a sitting judge of the Karnataka High Court. The panel submitted its report in May, concluding that Justice Varma was guilty of misconduct.

After Justice Varma declined to resign, the Chief Justice forwarded the inquiry report and the judge’s response to the President and the Prime Minister, paving the way for impeachment proceedings in Parliament.

In August, Speaker Om Birla admitted a multi-party motion in the Lok Sabha seeking Justice Varma’s removal and constituted a three-member parliamentary inquiry committee. The panel includes Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior advocate B V Acharya.

Justice Varma had approached the Supreme Court seeking to quash the Speaker’s decision, the admission of the removal motion and all subsequent actions taken by the inquiry committee. With Friday’s ruling, the top court has cleared the way for the parliamentary process to continue.

With PTI inputs