Lok Sabha set to take up motion seeking Justice Varma’s removal, Cong on board

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has been speaking to leaders from all parties to arrive at a consensus before moving the motion of removal. It is learnt that the minister has conveyed to Opposition leaders that there has to be a “unified stand” on the matter.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told PTI Friday that his party would back the motion and its MPs would be among the signatories. He said the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, had “forced our hand” in the matter by writing to the President and the Prime Minister.

Ramesh also said the Opposition would also strongly push the issue of Justice Shekhar Yadav, against whom 55 Opposition MPs moved an impeachment notice in the Rajya Sabha last December for allegedly delivering a hate speech at a gathering last year.

Asked about the government’s move to gather signatures for moving the motion, Ramesh said: “The government cannot impeach. The Constitution, in Article 124, clearly states it is the MPs who move a motion — 100 MPs in the Lok Sabha or 50 MPs in the Rajya Sabha.”

“We are supporting; our MPs are also signing the motion in the Lok Sabha, and this is not for an impeachment but for setting up of a three-member committee by the Speaker under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968,” he said.

Justice Varma, meanwhile, has moved the top court against its in-house inquiry report. Rijiju told The Indian Express: “The removal of a Supreme Court or a High Court judge is a matter that is the authority of Parliament. It is independent of what is happening in the Supreme Court.”

The notices for the removal motion will be signed by MPs from different parties. For a motion of impeachment to be taken up, it has to be moved by not less than 100 members in the Lower House.

Once the MPs submit the motion, the presiding officer of the House can either accept or reject it. 

After a motion for impeachment is adopted by either House, the Speaker or  Chairman has to constitute a three-member committee of inquiry, headed by the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, and including a Chief Justice of any High Court, and a person who is a “distinguished jurist”. 

If the committee renders a guilty finding, its report is adopted by the House in which it was introduced and the judge’s removal is debated.

Sources said the government is exploring ways to complete the removal process in the Monsoon Session itself.

A three-member committee appointed by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna — comprising Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court; Justice G S Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, judge of the Karnataka High Court —  has already indicted Justice Varma.