How Do You Remove Sitting High Court Judge? Impeachment Process Explained

The government is considering impeachment charges against Justice Yashwant Varma, the ex-Delhi High Court judge from whose home burnt bundles of cash were allegedly found in March.

The piles of charred cash - photos of which were shared online - were discovered by firefighters in the smouldering remains of an outhouse attached to his allotted bungalow in central Delhi.

Justice Varma has firmly denied any link to the cash, calling allegations of impropriety against him and members of his family "preposterous", and spoken of a 'conspiracy' against him.

He has also refused to resign, despite a damning report by a three-member judicial panel.

In May, President Droupadi Murmu was advised to begin the impeachment process.

Sources said the impeachment process will likely begin in the second half of July, when Parliament convenes for the monsoon session, unless Justice Varma stands down before then.

READ | Impeachment Motion Likely Against Justice Varma In Cash-At-Home Row

The government is reportedly keen on garnering support from all parties, including the opposition, and is expected to consult them on the first draft of the impeachment motion.

What Is Impeachment?

It is a constitutional mechanism to remove a sitting judge - specifically those from the Supreme Court or a state High Court - from his/her office. Once appointed, judges cannot be removed from office without an order from the President, who, in turn, requires consent from Parliament.

The Constitution does not actually refer to the word 'impeachment', but the procedure to remove judges is outlined in the Judges Inquiry Act of 1968 and mentioned in two constitutional provisions - Article 124 (for Supreme Court judges) and Article 218 (for those from High Courts).

How Is Impeachment Done?

An impeachment motion can be introduced in either House of Parliament.

At least 50 Rajya Sabha MPs must sign the motion - which is a record of the intention to impeach - for it to proceed further. In the Lok Sabha that number is 100.

Once that threshold is reached, the Chair of the former or the Speaker of the latter, depending on which House admits the motion, will review the available materials.

At this stage s/he may reject the impeachment motion.

If it is passed, then either the speaker or the Chairperson writes to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to nominate a three-member panel to investigate the charges.

Burnt bundles of cash were found at the home of the former Delhi High Court judge.

This panel will consist of either the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or a top court judge, the Chief Justice of a High Court, and an eminent jurist, who can be nominated by the government.

If this committee finds the charges against the judge to be true, both Houses will vote on removing the judicial officer, starting with the one in which the motion was first introduced.

In each case it must pass by special majority. That is, at least two-thirds of those present and voting must be in favour and these votes must be over half the House's total membership.

Then, and only then, will the President remove the judge - i.e., impeach him/her.

Has Any Judge Been Impeached?

No.

No judge in independent India has been forcibly removed from office. Should Justice Varma not stand down of his own volition, he will have the unfortunate distinction of being the first.

There have, however, been five times impeachment was a possibility.

The first instance was Justice V Ramaswami of the Supreme Court in 1993 and, most recently, an attempt was made to impeach former Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra in 2018.

In the first case, Justice Ramaswami was accused of financial and administrative irregularities during his time as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The impeachment, however, failed after MPs from the then-ruling party, the Congress, abstained from voting.

The last judge to face impeachment was ex-Supreme Court Justice Dipak Mishra in 2018 (File).

In the last-recorded case, ex-Chief Justice Mishra was accused of administrative misconduct and arbitrary allocation of cases. There were political undertones to the impeachment bid, which failed after the Vice President, then Venkaiah Naidu, rejected the motion.

In-between, there were two separate impeachment bids in 2011 and a fifth in 2015.

The 2015 impeachment was a bid to remove Gujarat High Court judge Justice SB Pardiwala for remarks about reservation for marginalised communities. But the notice was later withdrawn.

In 2011 Justice PD Dinakaran of the Sikkim High Court (previously the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice) and Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court faced impeachment.

The former was accused of judicial misconduct and the latter was found guilty of misappropriating public funds before being appointed a judge.

Both resigned before their respective impeachment processes could be completed.

With input from agencies

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