Editorial: Justice Varma’s impeachment imminent

The recovery of unaccounted cash from the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, a former judge of the Delhi High Court, has brought disrespect to the judiciary

If the judiciary, a sacred institution revered in India for its expected fairness and objectivity in delivering justice to the common man, comes under a cloud, it could lead to the erosion of public faith in the system. The recovery of unaccounted cash from the official residence of Justice Yashwant Varma, a former judge of the Delhi High Court, was one such instance which brought disrespect to the judiciary. A fire at his bungalow in March this year uncovered “jute sacks full of cash stashed in a corner of the outhouse”, raising concerns of illicit funds. A Supreme Court-appointed probe panel has recommended Varma’s removal, concluding that he and his family members were in control of the store room where the half-burnt cash was found. Based on the report of the three-judge panel, which examined 58 witnesses, the apex court has recommended his impeachment. The committee comprising Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court judge Anu Sivaraman has rebuffed Justice Varma’s claims that the entire episode was a set up to frame him. On May 8, then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna forwarded the findings of an in-house committee set up to investigate allegations of corruption against Justice Varma to both the President and the Prime Minister. The panel recommended that the misconduct found proved serious enough to warrant the initiation of proceedings to remove Justice Varma.

On his part, Justice Varma dubbed the allegations as preposterous and refused to resign despite the panel indicting him. President Droupadi Murmu has referred the former CJI’s impeachment recommendation to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha Speaker. The impeachment motion against a judge of a constitutional court needs to be backed by at least 50 members in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, it has to be backed by at least 100 members. If Justice Varma is removed, he will be the first judge of a constitutional court to be sacked. While Parliament has the power under Article 124(4) to impeach judges, no judge in independent India has been impeached. However, there have been five impeachment attempts in the past. The first instance was Justice V Ramaswami of the Supreme Court in 1993 and the most recent one was in 2018 involving former Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra, following allegations of administrative misconduct and arbitrary allocation of cases. In the latest case, the government must take the opposition parties on board and build a consensus before initiating impeachment proceedings. Though the Constitution does not actually refer to the word impeachment, the procedure to remove judges is outlined in the Judges Inquiry Act of 1968 and in two constitutional provisions — Article 124 (for Supreme Court judges) and Article 218 (for those from High Courts).

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