Polity · 14 Aug 2026

Judges Inquiry Act 1968 resignation

Consider the following in the context of the Justice Yashwant Varma inquiry, referenced in recent news:

  1. Assertion (A): The Judicial Inquiry Committee investigating Justice Yashwant Varma continued its proceedings and submitted its findings to Parliament even after he resigned as a judge.
  2. Reason (R): The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 explicitly mandates that a statutory inquiry against a judge must continue to completion irrespective of the judge's resignation.

Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

ABoth A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
BBoth A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A
CA is true but R is false
DA is false but R is true
This question is based on: The Judge Who Resigned but Was Still Found Guilty
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About this question

Why in news

The Judicial Inquiry Committee's report on Justice Yashwant Varma - finding all three charges against him "proved" - was tabled in both Houses of Parliament on August 12, 2026, months after his resignation mid-inquiry.

Why for UPSC

Assertion-Reasoning questions on institutional processes often hinge on whether an outcome flows from an explicit statutory rule or from administrative/committee discretion - exactly the distinction this case turns on, making it a natural UPSC-style trap.

Prelims summary

The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 does not explicitly state what happens to a pending inquiry if the judge under investigation resigns. The Varma committee chose to complete the "investigation and proof" stage anyway, departing from the 2011 Sen/Dinakaran practice - but this remains a discretionary precedent, not a codified rule.

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