NEW DELHI: The government has begun the process of the impeachment motion against Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma on Monday with over 200 members of Parliament (MPs) across party lines submitted a petition seeking the removal of Justice Varma in the cash-discovery row.
A total of 145 Lok Sabha and 63 Rajya Sabha MPs have submitted notices to the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for the removal of Varma from whose residence here burnt wads of currency notes were found. The signatories to the notice included LoP) Rahul Gandhi, BJP MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Anurag Thakur and NCP-SP’s Supriya Sule among others.
The notice was submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla under Articles 124, 217 and 218 of the Constitution.
How is impeachment done?
A notice for the removal of a judge has to be signed by not less than 100 members in the Lok Sabha and 50 in the Rajya Sabha. The motion can either be accepted or rejected by the Speaker or the Chairman.
According to the Judges (Inquiry) Act, when notices of a motion are submitted on the same day in both the Houses of Parliament, a committee to examine the charges levelled against the judge will be constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
The Act states that no committee shall be constituted unless the motion has been admitted in both Houses.
Committee members
The committee comprising a senior judge of the Supreme Court, a sitting chief justice of a high court and a distinguished jurist will then probe the charges against Justice Varma and will be asked to come out with a report in three months.
The inquiry report will be tabled in Parliament, followed by a discussion in both Houses after which there will be voting on the motion for the removal of Justice Varma.