Is a parliamentary motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma the answer, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar asked a gathering of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, in Chandigarh on Friday (June 6, 2025) adding that “if there has been a crime, why wasn’t it punished?”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) said the government would bring out a resolution in Parliament in the monsoon session for impeachment motion against Justice Varma. Justice Varma was subject of a probe by a Supreme Court-appointed panel after a fire incident at his Delhi residence led to the discovery of several burnt sacks of cash at the outhouse.
Mr. Dhankhar said the government of the day was handicapped because of a three-decade-old judicial order that did not allow it to register a First Information Report (FIR) without permission from the judiciary. The Vice-President said, “So I pose a question to myself, in deep pain, worried, concerned, in anguish — why was that permission not given? That was the minimum that could have been done on the earliest occasion.”
He also questioned why even after the Supreme Court probe, Justice Varma has not been punished. “I have raised the issue. Ultimately, if a motion is brought to remove a judge, is that the answer? If there has been a crime, a culpable act shaking the foundations of democracy — the rule of law, why wasn’t it punished? We have lost more than three months, and the investigation has not even been initiated. Whenever you go to court, they ask why the FIR was delayed.”
