New Delhi, India – In a big change, Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai stepped down from hearing a petition from Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday. Justice Varma’s request is to throw out the results of an internal investigation that found him guilty of wrongdoing in a disputed cash discovery case.
“Because I was also on the committee, I won’t be able to take this topic up. We will put it on the list. “I will have to make a bench,” CJI Gavai said to top attorney Kapil Sibal, who was representing Justice Varma and asking for the case to be heard right now. The CJI was in charge of a bench that also included Justices K. Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi.
Questioning the recommendation for impeachment and the Constitution
Not only does Justice Varma’s appeal question the in-house probe report, but it also asks the court to throw out the May 8 recommendation issued by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, which told Parliament to start impeachment proceedings against him. Sibal stressed how important the issue is, telling the bench that the plea brings up several important constitutional questions.
The “cash discovery row” started on March 14, when a fire broke out by accident at Justice Varma’s official home in Delhi. He was a judge on the Delhi High Court at the time, but he has since moved to the Allahabad High Court. Reports say that a lot of cash was found during firefighting operations around 11:35 PM.
Results of the inquiry and actions taken by Parliament
A three-judge team, led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, looked into the occurrence for ten days in a row. The panel heard from 55 witnesses and even went to the scene of the fire. In the end, they decided that Justice Varma was prima facie guilty of wrongdoing. Former Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna used this report to suggest that the president be impeached.
The issue has reached Parliament, where 145 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 63 MPs from the Rajya Sabha signed a petition on Monday asking for Justice Yashwant Varma to be impeached. Many well-known political figures, such as Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, P.P. Chaudhary, Supriya Sule, and K.C. Venugopal, are said to have supported the resolution. Under Articles 124, 217, and 218 of the Constitution, the notification has been submitted. These articles explain how to remove justices from the Supreme Court and High Court.
The process of impeachment and political support
At least 100 Lok Sabha MPs or 50 Rajya Sabha MPs must sign a motion to remove a judge, as per the rules. After the motion is submitted, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, depending on the issue, determines whether to accept or reject it. If the charges are accepted, a three-person investigation committee is set up to look into them. If this committee deems the judge guilty, the motion is next considered and voted on in both Houses of Parliament. For it to pass, two-thirds of the members of each house must vote for it.
K. Suresh, a member of Congress, has already said that the party fully supports the impeachment move. This shows that the INDIA bloc is united on this issue. The latest revelation is a big legal and political problem for Justice Varma. The Supreme Court will now put up a fresh bench to hear his appeal against the inquiry’s conclusions and the recommendation for impeachment.