The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday rejected Justice Yashwant Varma’s plea challenging the committee formed by the Speaker of Lok Sabha to inquire into a motion for his removal in connection with the discovery of unaccounted cash at his official residence. A bench of Justices S.C. Sharma and Dipankar Dutta held that “the Speaker committed no illegality in forming the committee for inquiry and that Justice Varma would not be granted any relief. ” Justice Yashwant Varma was a judge of Delhi High Court when the incident occurred at his residence on the night of March 14, 2025.
Justice Varma contended that despite impeachment notices being moved in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the same day (July 21), LS Speaker Om Birla constituted a committee on his own, without awaiting the Rajya Sabha chairman’s decision or holding the mandatory joint consultation. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Justice Varma and argued that if motions are moved simultaneously in both the Houses, then a committee can be formed only jointly by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
On March 20, 2025, the SC proposed the transfer of Justice Varma to Allahabad High Court. A three-judge panel was formed by the then Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice Sanjeev Khanna. The committee found that the judge was responsible for “misconduct”, and forwarded this report to the President and Prime Minister for further action. Two separate motions were moved in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha seeking the impeachment of Justice Varma on July 21, 2025. The Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla then appointed a three-member committee comprising Justice Arvind Kumar of the Supreme Court, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior advocate B.V. Acharya of the Karnataka HC.
