New Delhi, July 21 In a rare show of solidarity, 145 MPs from both the ruling and Opposition parties on Monday jointly signed an impeachment notice against Justice Yashwant Varma, submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Those seeking impeachment of the judge - facing heat over alleged recovery of cash at his Delhi home in March – included signatories like Rahul Gandhi, Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, P.P. Chaudhary, Supriya Sule and K.C. Venugopal.
The notice given under Article 217 and 218 of Constitution was supported by parties including the BJP, Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Janasena Party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Shiv Sena (Shinde), Nationalist Congress Party and CPI(M), among others.
With overwhelming support for the notice, the impeachment of a sitting High Court judge - a first for independent India – is now likely to be investigated by Parliament under Articles 124, 217, and 218 of the Constitution.
Article 217 safeguards the independence of the judiciary by laying down the provision for removal of a High Court judge only for "cause" (proven misbehaviour or incapacity), with the requirement of a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament.
Article 124(4) of the Indian Constitution outlines the process for removing a Supreme Court/High Court judge. It specifies that a judge can only be removed by the President after both Houses of Parliament have addressed the President with an address seeking the removal.
As per the constitutional provisions, an impeachment motion can be introduced in either House of Parliament. At least 50 Rajya Sabha MPs must sign the motion - which is a record of the intention to impeach - for it to proceed further. In the Lok Sabha, that number is 100.
No judge in independent India has ever been impeached, despite the fact that impeachment and removal proceedings were initiated five times. The last time it was done in 2018 and involved ex-Chief Justice of India Deepak Misra, who was accused of administrative misconduct and arbitrary allocation of cases.
Justice Varma has been in the eye of a storm since the March 15 discovery of the burnt cash in an outhouse of his official residence allotted to him while serving in the Delhi High Court. The row raised questions about corruption in the highest levels of the judicial system.
Justice Varma, who has since been shifted to the Allahabad High Court, has denied any link to the cash, and labelled allegations of impropriety against him and members of his family "preposterous".
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