MPs want Allahabad HC judge impeached. A look back at 6 bids, and where they ended

A look at how previous such impeachment motions against judges have fared:

2018

Opposition parties, including the Congress, moved a notice for impeaching then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra for alleged “misbehaviour” and “misusing” his authority. The parties submitted their notice to then Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, with the signature of 64 MPs.

However, Naidu rejected the motion, saying the allegations were neither tenable or admissible.

2015

Fifty-eight MPs of the Rajya Sabha gave notice to the Chairman for a motion to remove Justice S K Gangele, a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, over the alleged sexual harassment of a woman Additional District and Sessions Judge of Gwalior, “for not submitting to his illegal and immoral demands” and “misusing his position as the Administrative Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh to use the subordinate judiciary to victimize the said Additional District and Sessions Judge”.

The Judges Inquiry Committee formed to look into the charges by the Rajya Sabha acquitted Justice Gangele. “The allegation that the respondent judge was misusing his position by using the subordinate judiciary to victimize the complainant in discharge of her duties as judicial officer is not proved,” the report said.

2015

Fifty-eight Rajya Sabha MPs moved an impeachment notice against Justice J B Pardiwala of the Gujarat High Court for his “objectionable remarks on the issue of reservation”, in a case pertaining to then Patidar quota activist Hardik Patel. Hours after the MPs petitioned then-Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, Justice Pardiwala expunged those words from the judgment in question.

2011

Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court faced impeachment over allegedly appropriating Rs 32 lakh as a court-appointed receiver in a case. After the Rajya Sabha passed the motion for his removal in August 2011, the Lok Sabha was scheduled to discuss the motion in September. Before that could happen, Justice Sen resigned.

2009

Seventy-five Rajya Sabha MPs moved an impeachment motion against then-Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran for possessing wealth disproportionate to known sources of income, among other charges. An inquiry committee continued probing the charges, and in 2011, Justice Dinakaran resigned, expressing lack of confidence in the probe.

1993

Supreme Court Justice V Ramaswami became the first judge to face impeachment motion in independent India’s history, when a motion on it was moved in the Lok Sabha in May 1993. He was alleged to have made lavish expenditures on his official residence while he was the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The motion was discussed in the Lok Sabha, with Congress leader Kapil Sibal representing Ramaswami in his capacity as a lawyer.

The motion eventually fell through as less than the required two-thirds of total members present and voting supported it. Out of the 401 members present, 196 voted in favour and 205 Congress and other party MPs abstained.