INDIA Bloc Submits Impeachment Notice Against Justice G R Swaminathan Over Lamp-Lighting Row

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Tuesday (December 9, 2025) led a delegation of INDIA bloc Members of Parliament to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to submit an impeachment notice seeking removal of Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan. The judge was recently in the news for his order in the Thiruparankundram Karthigai Deepam dispute.

The notice, dated December 9 and backed by 120 MPs, has been moved under Articles 217 read with 124 of the Constitution, which lay down the procedure for the removal of high court and Supreme Court judges.

DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi, the party’s Lok Sabha leader T R Baalu, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among those who handed over the notice to the Speaker.

According to the contents of the motion, the MPs have alleged that Justice Swaminathan’s conduct undermines confidence in judicial impartiality and transparency. The notice accuses him of extending undue favour to a senior advocate and lawyers belonging to a particular community and claims that some of his verdicts are coloured by political ideology, contrary to the secular scheme of the Constitution. Copies of letters addressed to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India have also been enclosed along with the notice.

The notice reads:

1. The conduct of Justice G. R. Swaminathan raises serious questions regarding impartiality, transparency, and the secular functioning of the judiciary;

2. Undue favoritism shown to one Mr. M. Sricharan Ranganathan, Senior Advocate in deciding the cases, also favoring advocates from a particular community,

3. Deciding cases on the basis of a particular political ideology and against the secular principles of the Indian Constitution.

The political move comes against the backdrop of a sharp stand-off over the court’s December 3 directions on lighting the traditional Karthigai Deepam lamp at Thiruparankundram Hill in Tamil Nadu. The site includes the Arulmighu Subramaniya Swamy Temple and a nearby dargah, and has been at the centre of a simmering dispute over religious rights and access.

In his order, Justice Swaminathan had permitted devotees to light the Karthigai Deepam lamp on the “Deepathoon” pillar atop the hill by December 4. The judgment rejected objections raised by both the temple authorities and the dargah management, and recorded that the ritual, in his view, would not interfere with the religious rights of the Muslim community. Court had directed that only a small group of devotees, escorted and secured by state authorities, be allowed to go up and perform the ceremony.

The Tamil Nadu government, however, did not implement the order, citing concerns over law and order, and moved an appeal and the Apex Court through an SLP against the High Court order.