Yashwant Varma and the Separation of Powers
Earlier this year, Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma resigned as more than 140 Lok Sabha members backed a motion to remove him, ending a controversy that began when unaccounted cash was discovered at his official residence during a fire in March 2025. This article uses his case to explore an idea the French philosopher Montesquieu articulated nearly three centuries ago: why keeping the judiciary independent from, yet accountable to, the other branches of government is one of the hardest balancing acts any constitutional democracy attempts. Historicity: A Doctrine Born from Fear of Concentrated Power Montesquieu, writing in his 1748 work "The Spirit of the Laws," argued that liberty could survive only where legislative, executive, and judicial power were held by separate hands, since a single body combining all three could too easily become tyrannical. His insight shaped constitutional design across the democratic world, including India's own Constitution, which ...