Om Birla forms a three-member committee to probe Justice Yashwant Varma.
Varma may resign to retain pension; removal by Parliament would strip benefits.
Probe follows cash discovery at his Delhi residence; he is now at Allahabad High Court without work.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced the formation of a three-member inquiry committee to examine allegations of corruption against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma. The move sets in motion the process that could lead to his removal by Parliament unless he resigns.
The panel will include Supreme Court judge Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior Karnataka High Court advocate B V Acharya. “The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal (for removal of Justice Varma) will remain pending till the receipt of the report of the inquiry committee,” Birla told Lok Sabha.
Birla said he had received a proposal on July 21 from 146 members of the House, including BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, seeking the judge’s removal.
According to PTI, officials familiar with the procedure for appointing and removing Supreme Court and high court judges said that Justice Varma could announce his resignation during proceedings in either House, and a verbal statement would be considered valid. In that case, he would retain pension and other benefits due to a retired high court judge. Removal through a parliamentary vote, however, would strip him of these entitlements.
Under Article 217 of the Constitution, a high court judge “may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office.”
PTI reported that no approval is required for such a resignation. Judges may also set a prospective date for stepping down and can withdraw the resignation before that date.
Parliamentary removal is the other constitutional route for vacating the office. Then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had written to the President and the Prime Minister recommending Justice Varma’s removal, PTI reported. The recommendation followed an in-house investigation by a three-judge panel into a case involving large amounts of cash found at Varma’s official residence in Delhi after a fire incident in March.
The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, states that once a motion to remove a judge is admitted, the Speaker or Rajya Sabha Chairman must appoint a three-member committee comprising the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, a high court chief justice, and a “distinguished jurist.” The committee’s findings are then placed before the House for discussion and voting.
The fire at Justice Varma’s Delhi residence, when he was serving on the Delhi High Court bench, led to the discovery of several burnt sacks of cash in the outhouse. Varma denied knowledge of the money, but a Supreme Court-appointed committee indicted him after hearing witnesses and recording his statement. Following this, the apex court transferred him back to the Allahabad High Court, where he has not been given any judicial work.
If proceedings move forward, this will be the first impeachment motion to be taken up in the new Parliament building. Past cases include those of Supreme Court judge V Ramaswami and Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen, both of whom resigned before Parliament could vote.
