Justice Yashwant Varma may face impeachment over Rs 15 crore cash found at his home. Justice Shekhar Yadav’s hate speech still goes unpunished—sparking political outrage.
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NEW DELHI: On 14th march, at the Delhi official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, 15 crores cash found which cost him to face the impeachment process in Parliament. The Central Government is seeking to remove the judge through the constitutional process i.e. Impeachment.
Justice Shekhar Yadav faced the impeachment motion six months ago for using derogative terms for Muslim community “Kathmullah“. He has also used phrases like “hamari gita aapki Quran“. At that time no action was taken which led to raising issues by congress and strong criticism by Kapil Sibal.
Kapil Sibal defends Justice Varma by calling him “one of the finest judges“. He also criticized, Mr. Jagdeep Dhankhar, Rajya Sabha Chairperson, for not acting upon old impeachment notice filed against Justice Shekhar Yadav for communal statements. Mr. Sibal also alleged that the central government is trying to protect the judge involved in the matter.
Impeachment is a constitutional process for the removal of siting judges of Supreme Court and High Courts. Article 124(4) and and 218 of the Constitution of India provides the procedure for the impeachment of judges of Supreme Court and High Courts, respectively. Constitution also provides procedure for the impeachment of the President under Article 61.
This process of removal of the judges involves many stages which includes investigation, debate in Parliament and approval of the President. It must be ensured that the judge removed from the office must be proved guilty for misbehaviour and incapacity.
IMPEACHMENT PROCESS FOR JUDGES
Although the term impeachment has not been used explicitly, but is used to describe the process for removal of judges from the office. This process provides an essential tool to ensure judicial accountability along with preseving independence of judiciary.
Article 124(4) and 218 outlines the removal process for Supreme Court and High Court judges. the grounds for removal is limited to “proved misbehaviour and incapacity“.
ALSO READ: Removal of Sitting Judges in India: Process and Notable Impeachment Cases
STEPS FOR IMPEACHMENT PROCESS
- Initiation of Motion
For the motion of impeachment there must be support of atleast 100 members of Lok Sabha and 50 members of Rajya Sabha. The chairman or speaker may confer with others and examin pertinent documents before determining whether to accept or reject the motion.
- Formation of an Inquiry Committee
Following the acceptance of motion, the Chairman or the Speaker of the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha respectively, constitutes a committee of three members:
- The Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judges
- The Chief Justice of a High Court
- A distinguished jurist
The committee for the purpose of inqiry gathers evidences, examins witnesses for deciding the validity of charges.
- Committe Report and Parliamentary Debates
The committee, after the inqury submits its findings to the presiding officer of the House where the motion is initiated. If the judge is found guilty, the report is discussed and debated in the parliament and the judge is given an opportunity to defend himself.
Both the Houses of Parliament must approve with special majority i.e., majority of the total membership of the Houses and at least two-third of the members present and voting.
- Final Approval by the President
When the motion is accepted in both the Houses, it is presented to the President of India, who then issue an official removal order, effectively dismissing the judge from office.
ALSO READ: Removal of Sitting Judges in India: Process and Notable Impeachment Cases
Real-Life Impeachment Cases of Judges in India
Justice V. Ramaswami (1993)
Justice Ramaswami was the first judge against whom impeachment motion was taken for extravagant spending when he was Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The motion failed to secure the required two-thirds majority, so he was not removed.
Justice Soumitra Sen (2011)
Impeachment motion was passed by the Rajya Sabha against the Calcutta High Court judge on corruption charges. But he resigned before Lok Sabha could take it up.
Justice J.B. Pardiwala (2015)
58 Rajya Sabha members moved an impeachment motion against the Gujarat High Court judge for controversial remarks on reservation.
Justice S. K. Gangele Case (2015)
He faced serious charges of Sexual Harassment. But he got the clean chit as the four instances of the sexual harrashment “is not proved”.
Justice Dipak Misra Case (2018)
He was the First Chief Justice of India who faced impleachment motion. 71 Rajya Sabha members moved the motion, but the then Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Venkaiah Naidu, rejected it.
RECENT CONTROVERSIES
Kapil Sibal slammed the government for protecting Justice Yadav while targeting Justice Varma, saying,
“The government clearly wants to save the judge.”
He questioned why the same rules weren’t applied in both cases. Also, in favour of Justice Varma he said “one of the finest judges“.
Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav “Hate Speech” case
on 8th December 2024, Justice Shekhar Yadav, a sitting judge at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, in a gathering organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, deliverd a speech. while speaking about the Uniform Civil Code, he used phrases like “our geeta, your kuran” and disparaging terms like “kathmullah” which leads his speech to hate speech and member of Parliament from opposition parties has initiated motion for impeaching Justice Yadav.
For this Justice Yadav may face impeachment following the steps of impeachment process. But in this case the notice was submitted on 13th December, 2024.
Since that time, there has been no official action, which led to the Congress party raising the issue again and Kapil Sibal expressing strong criticism.
Justice Yashwant Varma “Cash at Home” case
On 15th March Justice Yashwant Varma’s official apartment in the 30-Tughlak Crescent neighborhood of Delhi caught fire. Authorities discovered massive piles of burned money in his home’s storeroom after the fire was put out. The inquiry report, which India Today was able to see, stated that the money was strewn all over the room and reached a height of 1.5 feet.
According to the report, 17 people including his daughter spent the night of March 14–15 at his home. Justice Varma and his family were in “covert” and “active” management of the storeroom where the cash was discovered. Additionally, because the storage was kept secured and only the judge and his immediate family could enter, the panel disregarded the involvement of any outsiders.
There was cash in the storeroom which led the fire worse. the staff of Justice Varma tried to remove the burnt cash. In addition to that personal secretary of Justice Varma, Rahendar Singh Karki was the first person to inform Justice about the fire and he kept calling him all night to give updates.
Instead of giving proper explanation he gave a flat denial and called it a “consiracy“. But the committee did not accept this explanation.
What Did The Supreme Court Do?
After this the Supreme Court transferred Justice Varma from Delhi High Court to Allahabad High Court. Also, the Chief Justice Allahabad High Court has been asked to not assign any work to Justice Varma “for the time being“.
The Chief Justice of India at the time, Sanjiv Khanna, forwarded the inquiry report to both the President and the Prime Minister. This is only done when the judge refuses to resign, and the charges are found serious enough for removal.
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