Centre To Move Impeachment Motion Against Justice Yashwant Varma In Monsoon Session—All About It

The Union government is set to bring an impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, reported The Hindu.

The impeachment motion against Justice Varma follows his indictment by a three-member committee constituted by the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju confirmed the development to The Hindu, stating, "I have started reaching out to political parties as this is a non-political issue and would be better for all parties to be on board for the same."

He declined to name the leaders contacted, saying disclosures would follow in due course.

The impeachment motion stems from the discovery of unaccounted-for cash at the outhouse of Justice Varma's official residence in New Delhi in March, when he was judge at the Delhi High Court.

The incident triggered an in-house inquiry led by a three-judge committee constituted by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna.

The committee comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court; and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court submitted its report to the CJI on 4 May.

While Justice Varma maintained his innocence over the recovery of the cash, the committee indicted him.

Justice Varma, who was transferred to the Allahabad High Court during the controversy, refused to resign despite being nudged to do so.

Chief Justice Khanna has since written to the President and Prime Minister urging formal proceedings for his removal.

The motion will likely be moved first in the Rajya Sabha. Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister JP Nadda reportedly met Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar to discuss the matter.

A minimum of 50 MPs’ support is required in the Rajya Sabha, or 100 in the Lok Sabha, for admission of the motion.

“The attempt of the government would be to make it a wholly bipartisan move,” a senior official was quoted as saying in The Hindu report.

The Monsoon Session is expected to begin in the second week of July.

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