V. Ramaswami
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Veeraswami Ramaswami (15 February 1929 – 8 March 2025) was a judge of the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
and the first judge against whom removal proceedings were initiated in independent India.


Early life and education

Veeraswami Ramaswami was born on 15 February 1929. His age was moved back by 2 years according to accounts from his late father-in-law Justice K Veeraswami, who was the former Chief Justice of the
Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...
, and forged documents indicating 15 February 1929, as his birth date. In reality Ramaswami was born in 1927. He spent his school years at Hindu High School in
Srivilliputhur Srivilliputhur is a municipality in Virudhunagar district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 75,396. The most important landmark of Thiruvilliputhur is 11-tiered tower st ...
. He was educated at
The American College in Madurai The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Saracenic style, b ...
and received a degree in Law from
Madras Law College Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, commonly known by its former name Madras Law College, is a law school, located in Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), ...
.


Professional career

Ramaswami began his career by practising both civil and criminal law at the
Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...
. He was appointed permanent Judge of the Madras High Court from 31 January 1971. He was later transferred and appointed Chief Justice of
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
and
Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...
High Court on 12 November 1987. At the height of his career, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court on 6 October 1989 from which he retired on 14 February 1994.


Removal proceedings


Investigation

A scandal surfaced in the middle of the year 1990 when several media outlets reported about his ostentatious expenditure on his official residence during his tenure as a Chief Justice of
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
and
Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...
. On 1 February 1991, the Supreme Court Bar Association passed a resolution calling for his removal and requesting that the Chief justice not assign him any further legal work. The
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
and Left parties submitted a notice of motion to the Indian Parliament seeking his removal from office. Accepting the motion on 12 March 1991, Speaker
Rabi Ray Rabi Ray (26 November 1926 – 6 March 2017) was an Indian socialist politician, a Gandhian, a speaker of the Lok Sabha and a former Union minister. He hailed from Odisha. He joined the Socialist Party in 1948, and later became member of the Sa ...
constituted a committee composed of Justice P B Sawant of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Prabodh Dinkarrao Desai of the
Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...
, and Justice O Chinnappa Reddy, retired judge of the Supreme Court to investigate the affair. The committee found Ramaswami guilty of 11 out of 14 charges.


Removal motion in the Lok Sabha (failed)

The removal motion was placed in the Lok Sabha for debate and voting on 10 May 1993. Well-known lawyer and
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
politician
Kapil Sibal Kapil Sibal (born 8 August 1948) is an Indian lawyer and politician. A designated Senior Advocate, he is currently the President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). He has represented several high-profile cases in the Supreme Court of In ...
was Ramaswami's defence lawyer. Of the 401 members present in the Lok Sabha that day, there were 196 votes for removal, no votes against, and 205 abstentions by the ruling
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
and its allies. The motion which requires a two-thirds majority of members present during voting and an absolute majority of the total membership of the house, thus failed to pass. The said decision was challenged before the Supreme Court, which upheld the decision of the Parliament.


1999 Lok Sabha election

Ramaswami contested from
Sivakasi Sivakasi is a city in Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city is known for firecrackers and match factories that produce 70% of the country's output. The printing industries in Sivakasi produce 30% of the total diaries ...
constituency as an
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory ...
(ADMK) candidate in the 1999 election against
Vaiko Vaiko, birth name Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy (born 22 May 1944), is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Tamil Nadu. He is the founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Drav ...
from
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; MDMK) is a political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The headquarters of the party is called Thayag ...
. Thamaraikani who had been expelled from ADMK contested as an independent. He lost the election to Vaiko though he secured 32.21% of the votes. Vaiko received 41.8% and Thamaraikani 4.74% of the votes.


Personal life and death

Ramaswami had five children. His youngest son Sanjay Ramaswami is a lawyer and former member of the legislative assembly in Tamil Nadu, representing the Congress party. Public and private accounts from Justice Fathima Beevi, former Judge of the Supreme Court and former Governor of Tamil Nadu have indicated Ramaswami's interest in elevating Sanjay Ramaswami to a Judge of the Madras High Court, for which she recounts refusing on multiple occasions citing incompetence of Sanjay Ramaswami. On 8 March 2025, Ramaswami died at the age of 96.Former Supreme Court judge V. Ramaswami dead
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See also

*
Soumitra Sen Soumitra Sen is a former judge of the Calcutta High Court. He was the first judge in independent India whose removal motion was passed in Rajya Sabha for misappropriation of funds. History He was born on 22 January 1958. He passed the High Scho ...
, former judge of the Calcutta High Court, who became the first judge to be impeached by the Rajya Sabha. * P. D. Dinakaran, former Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, against whom Parliament initiated removal proceedings. * C. S. Karnan – former judge of the Calcutta High Court, who became the first judge of a high court to be punished for contempt of court while in office.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramaswami, V. 1929 births 2025 deaths Justices of the Supreme Court of India People from Virudhunagar district Judges of the Madras High Court Chief justices of the Punjab and Haryana High Court 20th-century Indian judges