The silver maces and panic buttons: The impeachment story of Justice V. Ramaswami
Earlier this week, The Leaflet published the full report of the in-house committee on Justice Yashwant Varma, against whom an impeachment motion may be introduced this monsoon. In 1989, Lawyers Collective had relentlessly campaigned for the removal of a sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Ramaswami, alleged of extravagant expenditures and proved misbehaviour. Recalling this crucial episode of our judiciary’s history, and how it ended, provides perspective in these challenging times.
Published on: 22 June 2025, 12:09 pm
AFTER THE BAISAKI OF 1989, one day we, in the Lawyers Collective, were sitting in the house of Indira Jaising at Golflinks at Delhi. We just came across an article by Kuldeep Nayyar on the audit objections by the Accountant General (‘AG’) of Punjab raised against the extravagant expenditures incurred by the then Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Justice V. Ramaswamy from Tamil Nadu. Suddenly it occurred to us that we must go deeper into the issue.
Immediately we hopped onto the Shatabdi Express leaving in the morning to Chandigarh. We had no actual plans. By mid day when the mercury levels were increasing, our team of five headed by Indira Jaising landed in Chandigarh in the afternoon. We proceeded to Sector 1 where the magnificent High Court was situated. Some friends in the High Court bar recognised us and immediately took us to the bar room where a meeting was in progress. We were also allowed to be seated in the meeting. To our surprise, the bar was discussing the increased inbreeding and nepotism among judges in favouring the near and dear. Many emphasised the setting of the ‘uncle syndrome’ of the bench. In the end, the meeting passed a resolution, which if not laudable enough for passing the policy of transferring one third of the judges to other high courts also noted that in Chandigarh, hundred percent were to be out from outside only.
After the meeting, we slowly broached the subject of the audit report against Justice Ramaswami and the article by Kuldeep Nayyar. Obviously, no one was surprised about the extravaganza and started giving many tales about Justice Ramaswamy. Within a few hours, we met several advocates, social activists, and some bureaucrats. To our surprise, we also had an audience with some of the senior judges of the High Court who were frank enough to discuss the issues of administrative misbehaviour of their chief justice. At the time of our visit, Justice Ramaswami had gone back to his home town and we had a peep into his official residence where we could see the opulence and indiscrete expenditure incurred in renovating the residence. The subject matter of such expenditures also formed part of the AG audit conducted. To our luck, we got a copy of the audit objections raised by the AG of Punjab.
To our surprise, we also had an audience with some of the senior judges of the High Court who were frank enough to discuss the issues of administrative misbehaviour of their chief justice.
Before going into the administrative extravaganza indulged by Justice Ramaswami, a brief outline on his life is also necessary.
Justice Ramaswami was born in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu. After registering as a lawyer in 1953, he married the daughter of K. Veeraswami, who was a senior judge of the Madras High Court then. His name was recommended and he was appointed as a judge in the Madras High Court in 1971. When he was appointed a judge, the practice was that the chief justice could recommend anyone’s name. The chief justice can also accept the names proposed by the State government. If the chief justice and the chief minister had a consensus, a person could become a judge without any problem. That was why Mr Ramaswami could become a judge when he was 42 years old.
After serving as a judge in Chennai for sixteen years, Justice Ramaswami was appointed as chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1987. That was the period when Punjab was in the grip of terrorist activities. Those who were appointed as chief justice of the High Court there were given security and some financial benefits. After assuming office in the High Court that was located at Chandigarh, he received encomiums from the judges and earned the intense dislike of his brother judges.
When he attended the office on the first day, he found to his dismay that there were no bearers to carry the silver mace walking in front of him to the court and return to his chamber after his court work. His mind travelled back to his Chennai days where every judge heads to their court with the mace bearers shouting ‘oosh oosh’ in a regal style and the crowds in the walkaways suddenly withdraw to the borders making it appear as the Noah’s Ark. Soon, he remembered the shop in which Madras High Court placed orders for silver maces and made an order for seven maces from M/s. P.ORR & Sons at Chennai. The one meant for the Chief Justice was to be specially designed with an ornamental head on its top.