56 Former Judges Condemn Impeachment Move Against Justice GR Swaminathan, Call It Attempt To Browbeat Judiciary

Fifty-six former judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts have issued a strong statement expressing “serious exception” to the move by opposition Members of Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against Madras High Court judge Justice G.R. Swaminathan. The former judges have termed the attempt a “brazen effort to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society.”

The statement, released on December 12, warns that permitting such a motion to proceed would “cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary.”

The former judges stress that even if the reasons cited by the MPs are taken at face value, they are “wholly inadequate” to justify invoking the extraordinary constitutional mechanism of impeachment. They reiterate that impeachment is meant to safeguard judicial integrity, not to be misused as a political weapon.

The impeachment motion was moved in the backdrop of Justice GR Swaminathan passing an order permitting temple devotees to light a lamp at a stone pillar atop the Thirupparankundram hill near a dargah, and later reprimanding the State Government for obstructing the implementation of the order.

The former judges, in their statement, said that the impeachment move was not "an isolated aberration." They recalled the 2018 attempt to impeach then Chief Justice Dipak Misra and public campaigns targeting Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, and presently CJI Surya Kant.

The former judges also draw parallels to historical attempts to pressure the judiciary, including supersessions after the Kesavananda Bharati ruling and the sidelining of Justice H.R. Khanna after his famous dissent in ADM Jabalpur. These, they say, stand as reminders that political interference can severely damage an independent judiciary.

The signatories warn against converting impeachment into a tool of intimidation, stating that wielding the threat of removal to compel judicial conformity is “anti-democratic, anti-constitutional, and an anathema to the rule of law.” They call the attempt to impeach a sitting High Court judge for performing judicial functions part of a continuing assault on judicial dignity and independence.

Urging Members of Parliament across political lines, the Bar, civil society and the public to “denounce this move,” the statement asserts that judges are accountable only to their oath and the Constitution. Dissatisfaction with judicial decisions, they state, must be addressed through appeals and legal reasoning, not by using impeachment as political retaliation.

Also read - Impeachment Motion And Judicial Independence

List of Signatories

1. Justice Adarsh Goel, Former Supreme Court Judge
2. Justice Hemant Gupta, Former Supreme Court Judge
3. Justice Anil Deo Singh, Former Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court
4. Justice Narsimha Reddy, Former Chief Justice, Patna High Court
5. Justice P. B. Bajanthri, Former Chief Justice, Patna High Court
6. Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, Former Chief Justice, Karnataka High Court
7. Justice Permod Kohli, Former Chief Justice, Sikkim High Court and Chairman, CAT
8. Justice S. M. Soni, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court and Lokayukt, Gujarat
9. Justice Vishnu S. Kokje, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan High Court
10. Justice Ambadas Joshi, Former Judge, Bombay High Court and Lokayukt, Goa
11. Justice R. Subramanian, Former Judge, Madras High Court
12. Justice Sivagnanam, Former Judge, Madras High Court
13. Justice T. Sudanthiram, Former Judge, Madras High Court
14. Justice S. N. Dhingra, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
15. Justice R. K. Gauba, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
16. Justice Vinod Goel, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
17. Justice J. R. C. Chopra, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
18. Justice Vidya Bhushan Gupta, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
19. Justice Ramesh Kumar Merathia, Former Judge, Jharkhand High Court
20. Justice Nawal Kishore Agarwal, Former Judge, Jharkhand High Court
21. Justice Karam Chand Puri, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
22. Justice Jasbir Singh, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
23. Justice H. S. Bhalla, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
24. Justice S. N. Agarwal, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
25. Justice Darshan Singh, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
26. Justice R. S. Rathore, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court and Member, NGT
27. Justice Prashant Kr. Agarwal, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court
28. Justice Rakesh Saksena, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
29. Justice K. K. Trivedi, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
30. Justice H. P. Singh, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
31. Justice D. K. Paliwal, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
32. Justice Sushil Kr. Gupta, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
33. Justice Dr. Siva Sankara Rao, Former Judge, Telangana High Court
34. Justice Kamleshwar Nath, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
35. Justice D. K. Seth, Former Judge, Allahabad and Calcutta High Courts
36. Justice Rajes Kumar, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
37. Justice Surendra Vikram Singh Rathore, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
38. Justice Vijay Laxmi, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
39. Justice S. K. Tripathi, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
40. Justice D. K. Arora, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
41. Justice Rajendra Badamiker, Former Judge, Karnataka High Court
42. Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar, Former Judge, Karnataka High Court
43. Justice A. V. Chandra Shekhar, Former Judge, Karnataka High Court
44. Justice P. Krishna Bhat, Former Judge, Karnataka High Court
45. Justice Vineet Kothari, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court
46. Justice Ravikumar Rameshwardayal Tripathi, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court
47. Justice K. A. Puj, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court
48. Justice P. N. Ravindran, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
49. Justice M. R. Hariharan Nair, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
50. Justice V. Chitambaresh, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
51. Justice A. V. Ramakrishna, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
52. Justice N. K. Balakrishnan, Former Judge, Kerala High Court
53. Justice Subhash Chand, Former Judge, Allahabad and Uttarakhand High Courts
54. Justice Lokpal Singh, Former Judge, Uttarakhand High Court
55. Justice Vivek Sharma, Former Judge, Uttarakhand High Court
56. Justice Rajiv Lochan, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court