Cutting across party lines, 145 Lok Sabha MPs from the ruling and opposition parties Monday give a notice to move a motion seeking the removal of former Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, who is at the centre of a row after a panel set up by the Supreme Court found credence in the allegations that wads of currency notes were discovered at his official residence when a fire broke out there on March 14.
Among the signatories of the motion are the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, MPs belonging to the BJP, Congress, TDP, JD(U), JD(S), Janasena Party, AGP, Shiv Sena and CPI(M) also signed the petition, which was submitted to Speaker Om Birla. The other signatories include BJP’s Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, P P Chaudhary, NCP(SP)’s Supriya Sule and Congress’s K C Venugopal.
As per the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968, a complaint against a judge has to be made through a resolution signed at least by 100 members if moved in Lok Sabha and by 50 MPs if initiated in Rajya Sabha.
Once the MPs submit the motion, the presiding officer of the House can either accept or reject it. If accepted, a three-member committee, comprising two judges and a jurist, will be constituted to probe the complaint and determine if it is a case fit for initiating the process of impeachment.
