.
NEW DELHI: New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a plea of Allahabad HC judge Yashwant Varma challenging the Lok Sabha speaker’s decision to form an inquiry committee as per Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, in the impeachment motion moved against him. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and S C Sharma reserved its decision after hearing senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Siddharth Luthra who was, appearing for Varma and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing both houses of Parliament. Varma challenged the LS speaker’s decision on procedural grounds. He alleged although the notices for his impeachment were given in both Houses, LS Speaker Om Birla constituted a probe committee unilaterally without awaiting admission of the motion by the Rajya Sabha chairman. He said under a proviso to Section 3 of Judges (Inquiry) Act, a joint consultation between LS speaker and RS chairman is contemplated when the impeachment motion is raised in both Houses. However, SG Tushar Mehta, appearing for LS secretary general, submitted that RS did not admit the impeachment motion, meaning the proviso would not apply. He submitted that the impeachment motion was rejected by RS deputy chairman on Aug 11, 2025, after the chairman (then vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar) resigned in July. On Wednesday, SC orally observed that there was no bar under Judges Inquiry Act on LS Speaker Om Birla setting up an inquiry committee to probe corruption charges against Varma after a similar motion was rejected in RS.
