In a significant and unprecedented move, more than 200 Members of Parliament (MPs) submitted a memorandum to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, demanding the removal of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma in connection with the ongoing cash recovery controversy.
According to official sources, the motion was signed by 145 Lok Sabha MPs and 63 Rajya Sabha MPs. The impeachment request cites Articles 124, 217, and 218 of the Constitution of India, which lay down the process for removal of judges for proven misbehavior or incapacity.
Political support for the motion appears to have cut across party lines, with MPs from the Congress, TDP, JDU, JDS, Jan Sena Party, AGP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), Lok Janshakti Party (LJSP), and Socialist Kisan Party (SKP) signing the memorandum.
Prominent leaders who signed the motion include Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, NCP MP Supriya Sule, and Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, among others.
Speaking to the press, senior Congress MP K Suresh confirmed that over 40 Congress MPs had already signed the motion and the party was coordinating with other opposition blocs to meet the constitutional threshold. “The INDIA bloc is fully supporting the motion and has contributed several signatures,” Suresh added.
The controversy stems from an incident earlier this year in March when burnt and partially burnt ₹500 currency notes were allegedly found at Justice Varma’s official residence in New Delhi. Following this, a judicial committee comprising three High Court judges—set up by then Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna—indicted Justice Varma and forwarded the findings to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, a plea seeking urgent registration of an FIR against Justice Varma was declined for an early hearing by the Supreme Court earlier today. A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran heard the petition filed by advocate Mathews but refused to expedite the matter.
