Impeachment motion against Justice Varma may be moved in Rajya Sabha this session

New Delhi: The government is weighing options on initiating a motion to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma during the upcoming monsoon session, following a recommendation from former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, sources said.

Earlier this month, the former CJI forwarded the report of an in-house inquiry committee into allegations of cash discovered at Justice Varma's Delhi residence to the President and Prime Minister. Along with the report, Justice Khanna recommended the removal of Justice Varma, who has refused to resign from office.

The report was later referred to the Department of Justice in the Union Law and Justice Ministry.


It is expected that a notice regarding the motion will be sent to the Rajya Sabha. To initiate the impeachment process, signatures from at least 50 Members of Parliament will be required. The government is likely to seek support from the opposition for this move, sources added.

Although the BJP-led NDA has a majority in the Rajya Sabha, the ruling dispensation prefers to have the opposition on board for this sensitive judiciary-related matter.

Following the introduction of the motion, the Chairman of the Upper House will form a three-member committee comprising a SC judge, a Chief Justice of a HC, and a distinguished jurist to probe and submit a report.

Sources indicated that while the impeachment motion could be submitted during the monsoon session, actual deliberations on it are unlikely to begin in the same session.

Since Independence, impeachment and removal proceedings have been initiated against high court and Supreme Court judges five times. However, no judge has ever been impeached.

Of the five instances, four motions were introduced in the RS. Notably, in the 1993 impeachment attempt against Justice Ramaswamy, well-known lawyer and then-Congress politician Kapil Sibal defended the judge, and the motion ultimately failed.

Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta HC resigned in 2011 after the RS passed an impeachment motion against him. He was the first judge to have been impeached by the Upper House for misconduct. But he resigned before Lok Sabha took his impeachment.