New Delhi, July 21: A group of 145 Members of Parliament submitted a formal memorandum to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, seeking the removal of High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.
The move comes in the wake of a controversy involving the discovery of burnt and half-burnt ₹500 currency notes at the judge’s official residence in New Delhi on March 15, 2025.
The impeachment motion, brought under Articles 124, 217, and 218 of the Constitution, garnered support from MPs across multiple parties, including Congress, TDP, JDU, JDS, Jan Sena Party, AGP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), LJSP, SKP, CPM, and others.
Prominent parliamentarians backing the motion include Anurag Singh Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, PP Chaudhary, Supriya Sule, and KC Venugopal, among others.
Congress MP K Suresh earlier confirmed his party's support for the impeachment, stating that the Congress had already submitted 40 signatures and was collaborating with other opposition parties from the INDIA bloc to meet the required count.
“The INDIA bloc parties are supporting this and signing the letters to the Speaker,” Suresh told ANI following an all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament.
The demand for Justice Varma’s removal intensified after a judicial committee—appointed by then Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna—found the judge guilty of misconduct related to the incident. The committee, comprising three senior High Court judges, submitted its findings to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recommending his removal after Justice Varma refused to resign.
On Sunday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju confirmed that over 100 MPs had already signed the removal notice.
(With agency inputs)
