Supreme Court rejects Justice Yashwant Varma’s challenge to parliamentary probe panel’s validity

The Supreme Court of India on January 16 dismissed a petition filed by Yashwant Varma, an Allahabad High Court judge, challenging the constitutionality of a parliamentary committee set up to probe corruption allegations against him, according to news agency ANI and legal news portal Bar and Bench.

The court rejected Justice Varma’s plea seeking to quash the decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to set up a three-member inquiry committee under the Judges (Inquiry) Act as part of impeachment proceedings. The ruling was delivered by a bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and SC Sharma, which had reserved its verdict on January 8, 2026.

Justice Varma had argued that the Speaker’s action was procedurally flawed, contending that a motion seeking his removal had earlier been rejected by the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He maintained that, since impeachment notices had been submitted in both Houses of Parliament, the proviso to Section 3 of the Judges (Inquiry) Act required joint consultation between the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman before any inquiry committee could be constituted.

Opposing the plea, the Lok Sabha’s Secretary General submitted that the Rajya Sabha had not admitted the impeachment motion. He said the motion was rejected by the Deputy Chairman on August 11, 2025, after the then Rajya Sabha Chairman, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, resigned in July. As a result, the proviso invoked by Justice Varma did not apply, and the Speaker was entitled to proceed independently with the impeachment process.

During the hearings, the Supreme Court questioned whether any law prevented the Lok Sabha Speaker from continuing impeachment proceedings merely because a similar motion had been rejected in the Rajya Sabha. The bench also expressed prima facie disagreement with the argument that such a rejection would automatically defeat the impeachment process.

The corruption allegations against Justice Varma arose after a fire at his residence on March 14, 2025, during which firefighters reportedly recovered unaccounted cash. Although Justice Varma denied any wrongdoing, he was subsequently transferred from the Delhi High Court to his parent Allahabad High Court and divested of judicial work pending further action.

An in-house inquiry was initiated by the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, who later asked Justice Varma to resign or face impeachment proceedings. Justice Varma declined to step down.

In August, the Lok Sabha Speaker admitted an impeachment motion moved by Members of Parliament and constituted a three-member committee to investigate the allegations under the Judges (Inquiry) Act. Justice Varma then approached the Supreme Court challenging the legality of this process.

Senior advocates Sidharth Luthra, Mukul Rohatgi and Jayant Mehta appeared on behalf of Justice Varma, while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha authorities.