New Delhi, 21 July

The process for the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma was set in motion on Monday with parliamentarians submitting notices to the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and Chairman of the Upper House Jagdeep Dhankhar taking note of the move.

While the notice submitted to the Rajya Sabha Chairman had signatures of 63 opposition members, the one submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker was a bipartisan effort with 152 members, including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, supporting the move.

Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court after burnt wads of currency notes were found at his official residence here on 14 March.

Dhankar mentioned in the House that he has received a notice of motion for setting up a statutory committee for the removal of Justice Varma of the Allahabad High Court.

"It is signed by more than 50 members of the Council of States and thus, it meets the numerical requirement of signing by members of Parliament for setting in motion a process for removal of a high court judge," he said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that 63 opposition members had submitted the notice to the Rajya Sabha chairman for removal of Justice Varma.

BJP leaders said they were also gathering signatures of its party MPs and those of its allies for the removal of Justice Varma.

Dhankhar asked Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal whether a similar notice has been submitted in the Lok Sabha. The Law Minister said 152 Lok Sabha members have submitted a similar notice to the Speaker.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman said according to the Judges (Inquiry) Act, when notices of a motion are submitted on the same day in both the Houses of Parliament, a committee to examine the charges levelled against the judge will be constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

"The secretary general will take the necessary steps in this direction," the Rajya Sabha Chairman announced.

The Act states that no inquiry committee shall be constituted unless the motion has been admitted in both Houses.

The committee comprising a senior judge of the Supreme Court, a sitting chief justice of a high court and a distinguished jurist will then probe the charges levelled against Justice Varma. It will be asked to come out with a report in three months.

The inquiry report will be tabled in Parliament, followed by a discussion in both Houses after which there will be voting on the motion for the removal of Justice Varma.

Though Justice Varma has denied any wrongdoing, the inquiry panel constituted by the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna concluded that the judge and his family members had covert or active control over the storeroom where the cash was found, proving his misconduct serious enough to seek his removal.