New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) In a significant development, the Central government is preparing to initiate impeachment proceedings against sitting High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, following serious allegations of financial impropriety. According to highly placed sources, a motion seeking his removal will be brought in the upcoming session of Parliament.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju is expected to lead consultations with all political parties ahead of tabling the motion. Top government officials indicated that cross-party consensus would be crucial, given the constitutional thresholds required for the removal (impeachment) of a judge.

The move came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal. Following this, the Home Minister held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and this lasted for two hours.

Subsequently, government sources said that the impeachment motion would be tabled in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju would hold talks with opposition parties.

Later, BJP President and Health Minister J.P. Nadda came to the residence of the Home Minister to meet him. Amit Shah and Nadda, who is the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, then went to meet Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the Chairman of the Upper House.

It is likely that the impeachment motion may be introduced in the upper house, and the meeting between the Union Ministers and Dhankhar could be in this connection only.

Then Delhi High Court judge, Justice Varma, is at the centre of a controversy after a large quantity of unaccounted cash was allegedly ‘recovered’ from his residence after a fire at his 30 Tughlak Crescent residence in New Delhi. Then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had ordered Justice Varma’s immediate transfer to the Allahabad High Court, his parent court. Justice Varma was away from the city when the fire broke out at his official bungalow. His family members called in firefighters and the police to control the blaze. After the fire was doused, officials reportedly discovered a massive stack of cash in one of the rooms.

A three-member inquiry committee, constituted under the in-house mechanism for judicial accountability by then CJI Justice Khanna, found the allegations serious enough to merit removal proceedings against Justice Varma.

As per established protocol, then CJI Khanna formally forwarded the committee’s report to the President and the Prime Minister, signalling that the judge had refused to resign voluntarily. Under the in-house guidelines, this step is taken only when the inquiry finds credible evidence that warrants impeachment.

The impeachment of a sitting judge is among the rarest and most sensitive procedures in India’s constitutional framework. Only a handful of judges have ever faced removal proceedings in the country’s history — most have resigned before the motion could be carried to conclusion.

The gravity of the allegations against Justice Varma and the formal findings of the judicial inquiry have now set the stage for a landmark episode in India’s judicial accountability system.

–IANS

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