Fear of impeachment! Before Justice Verma, only these 2 judges had resigned, know the big advantage behind leaving the post

Prayagraj/New Delhi: There is a stir in the Indian judiciary these days. Justice Yashwant Verma of Allahabad High Court has resigned from his post, and the reason behind it is not simple. Actually, he was going to be ‘Impeached’, which is a very serious and complex process of removing a judge by the Parliament. On 9 April, Justice Verma submitted his resignation directly to President Draupadi Murmu.

With this step of Justice Verma, the impeachment proceedings going on in the Parliament against him have come to a halt midway. This is only the third time in the history of the Indian judiciary that a sitting judge has stepped down just before the completion of the impeachment process.

No judge has been successfully impeached till date

According to the Indian Constitution, removing a judge from the post is like chewing iron. For this, it is mandatory to pass the proposal with two-thirds majority in both the houses of the Parliament. Till date in the history of India, not a single judge has been successfully removed through impeachment. Before Justice Verma, there were only two occasions when the case went this far:

• Justice Soumitra Sen (Calcutta High Court): In 2011, he was accused of misappropriation of funds. The Rajya Sabha had passed a resolution to remove him, but he resigned before the voting took place in the Lok Sabha.
• Justice P.D. Dinakaran (Sikkim High Court): In 2011 itself, he was accused of misconduct. Even before the proceedings of the Parliament’s inquiry committee began, he had submitted his resignation expressing no confidence in the investigation.

There is a big benefit of ‘retirement’ hidden in resigning.

Legal experts believe that there is a big technical advantage hidden in resigning before the impeachment is completed. As soon as the judge resigns, the impeachment process automatically stops. Since there is no provision in the present law that can stop the retirement benefits (such as pension and other facilities) of a resigning judge, he continues to receive all the benefits that a normal retired judge should receive.

What is the whole controversy related to Justice Yashwant Verma?

This entire matter is of March 2025, when Justice Yashwant Verma was posted in Delhi High Court. A massive fire broke out in the storeroom of his government bungalow in Delhi. While extinguishing the fire, the police found a huge amount of half-burnt cash, whose value was estimated to be around Rs 15 crore. However, Justice Verma rejected these allegations from the very beginning. His reasoning was that he was on holidays at the time and no one would keep their money in a place where anyone could have access.

Counterattack of investigation committee and Justice Verma

Considering the seriousness of the matter, the ‘in-house committee’ of the Supreme Court investigated and he was transferred to Allahabad High Court. Judicial work was also taken away from him. In July 2025, more than 100 MPs presented an impeachment motion against him. The inquiry committee constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker was about to submit its report when Justice Verma recused himself by writing a 13-page letter. He termed the entire investigation process as ‘biased’ and ‘unfair’.

Now what next?

According to constitutional provisions, now there will be no parliamentary proceedings against Justice Verma. The investigation process will end here and he will remain entitled to all government facilities and pension like a retired judge.