On Day 1 of the Monsoon Session, MPs from both Houses submitted notices seeking the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma after burnt cash was found at his residence. Signed by 145 Lok Sabha and 63 Rajya Sabha members, the motion seeks impeachment under Articles 124, 217, and 218.
Justice Varma. Pic/PTI
Opposition on the first day of the Monsoon Session in Parliament came out all guns blazing on Justice Varma. Stepping up the heat on Justice Yashwant Varma, parliamentarians on Monday submitted notices to the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The notice was related to the removal of the Allahabad High Court judge from whose residence burnt wads of currency notes were found.
Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court following the controversy, but the MPs during the Parliamentary Monsoon Session demanded his impeachment.
As reported by PTI, a bipartisan delegation submitted a notice, bearing the signatures of 145 Lok Sabha members, for the removal of Justice Varma under Articles 124, 217, and 218 of the Constitution to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday.
The signatories to the notice included Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and Anurag Thakur, NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule, Congress leaders K. C. Venugopal and K. Suresh, DMK leader T. R. Baalu, RSP member N. K. Premachandran, and IUML member E. T. Mohammed Basheer, among others.
On the other hand, another similar notice was submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. The letter submitted to Jagdeep Dhankhar contained the signatures of sixty-three members of the Rajya Sabha.
Addressing the Justice Varma cash row, Congress member Syed Naseer Hussain said, "Sixty-three opposition MPs, including those from AAP and INDIA bloc parties, have given a notice to the Rajya Sabha Chairman for removal of Justice Varma," as cited by news agency PTI.
Hussain said a notice has been given to Chairman Dhankhar for moving a motion to remove Varma.
He said although Trinamool Congress (TMC) members were not present on Monday, they are on board with the issue and will submit their signatures later.
In order to remove a judge, a notice must be approved by a minimum of 100 members in the Lok Sabha and 50 members in the Rajya Sabha. The Speaker of the House may either approve or reject the motion.
A committee will be established by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman to investigate the allegations against the judge when notices of a motion are submitted on the same day in both Houses of Parliament, as per the Judges (Inquiry) Act.
The Act stipulates that no committee shall be established unless the motion has been approved by both Houses.
If the motion gets approved by the lower and the upper Houses of Parliament, the allegations against Justice Varma will be investigated by a committee that includes a senior judge of the Supreme Court, a sitting Chief Justice of a High Court, and a distinguished jurist. The committee will be required to submit a report within 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.
Though Justice Varma has denied any wrongdoing, the inquiry panel has concluded that the judge and his family members had covert or active control over the storeroom where the cash was found, proving his misconduct serious enough to seek his removal.
(Wih Inputs from PTI)
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