Impeachment process against Justice Varma set to begin as LS Speaker prepares probe panel

The process to remove Justice Yashwant Varma from the Allahabad High Court is set to formally begin in the Lok Sabha, with Speaker Om Birla likely to soon announce a statutory committee to probe charges of judicial misconduct, sources said.

In a significant development on July 23, Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh met with Secretaries General of both Houses to finalize the procedural roadmap, joined later by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The focus: constituting the three-member inquiry committee, a crucial step in the rare and constitutionally significant impeachment process of a sitting judge.

The meeting came on a day the Supreme Court said it would form a bench to hear Justice Varma’s plea against an earlier in-house panel report that found him guilty of misconduct following the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash from his official residence in Delhi.

The looming removal proceedings follow Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar’s unexpected resignation on July 21 evening, which sources say created confusion within the government.

Hours before Dhankhar acknowledged an Opposition notice for Justice Varma’s removal in the Upper House, Speaker Birla had received a similar notice signed by 145 Lok Sabha MPs — setting the stage for the Lower House to take the lead in the process.

“Once the Lok Sabha Speaker receives the notice, he is mandated under the Judges (Inquiry) Act to constitute a committee. There’s no need for House discussion at that point,” said former Lok Sabha Secretary PDT Achary.

The Act requires that if motions are submitted in both Houses on the same day, the Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman jointly form the committee. However, Achary noted that Dhankhar did not appear to have formally admitted the Rajya Sabha notice.

While Dhankhar had pointed out that the Opposition’s motion met the numerical threshold —with 63 MPs from various parties signing — it was Birla who initiated the process first, BJP sources insisted.

Despite the procedural haze, officials confirmed that Harivansh, now officiating as RS Chair, would be consulted in the formation of the statutory panel. The committee — comprising a Supreme Court judge, a High Court judge, and a jurist of eminence — will investigate the charges and submit a report to the Speaker.

If the panel finds Justice Varma guilty, the matter will move to the Lok Sabha for debate and vote. A two-thirds majority is required to pass the impeachment motion, which would then go to the Rajya Sabha for identical action.

Meanwhile, Justice Varma has petitioned the Supreme Court to quash the in-house panel’s findings as well as the May 8 recommendation by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging Parliament to initiate impeachment.

The three-judge in-house committee, led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, examined 55 witnesses over 10 days and visited the site of the fire that broke out late on March 14 at Varma’s official quarters in Delhi, leading to the discovery of unexplained cash.

Justice Varma, then serving in the Delhi High Court and now in the Allahabad High Court, remains under scrutiny as the case — now straddling Parliament and the Supreme Court — tests the framework of judicial accountability in India.