New Delhi, July 22: More than 100 lawmakers have signed a notice seeking the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting High Court judge, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Sunday, months after a large amount of unexplained cash was found at the judge’s residence in Delhi.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Rijiju confirmed that the number of signatures in support of the impeachment motion had already crossed the constitutional threshold required to initiate proceedings in the Lok Sabha.
“The signature [collection] is underway and it has crossed 100 already,” Rijiju said, suggesting that the government intends to gather broad cross-party backing for the motion. Under Indian law, an impeachment motion must be signed by at least 100 members of the Lok Sabha or 50 members of the Rajya Sabha.
The government is expected to formally bring the motion in the lower house within the first week of the session. Senior parliamentary officials said the Speaker’s office would verify all signatures before the motion is taken up. Once verified and adopted, a three-member panel—comprising a Supreme Court judge, a High Court chief justice, and an eminent jurist—will be constituted to investigate the charges.
Justice Varma came under scrutiny after a fire at his Delhi residence on March 14 led emergency responders to a large stash of cash. He was away on holiday at the time. The incident prompted the Delhi High Court Chief Justice to initiate a preliminary inquiry, following which Justice Varma was stripped of judicial duties and later transferred to the Allahabad High Court, also without judicial work.
A three-judge inquiry panel appointed by then-Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna indicted Justice Varma, and recommended his removal to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Varma, however, has denied wrongdoing and challenged the panel’s findings in the Supreme Court.
“The entire process must be completed within the Monsoon Session,” a senior parliamentary official said, noting that there is no provision to carry over the motion to the next session.
India has rarely invoked impeachment proceedings against members of the higher judiciary. Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court was the first judge to be impeached by the Rajya Sabha in 2011, but he resigned before the Lok Sabha could vote. The country’s first attempted impeachment occurred in 1993 against Justice V. Ramaswamy, but failed in the lower house due to lack of majority support.
To pass, the current motion must be approved by a majority of the total membership of each House and at least two-thirds of the members present and voting.
Despite the legal complexities and political sensitivities, Rijiju’s remarks suggest the government is preparing for a high-stakes parliamentary showdown in the coming weeks.
