Congress: SC report can't be used for impeachment of Justice Verma

Time of India

20 hours ago

NEW DELHI: Amid speculations that the Supreme Court inquiry into Justice Yashwant Verma may form the basis for the impeachment proceedings, Congress MP Vivek Tankha Thursday shot off a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar flagging that the SC's inhouse report cannot be used for impeachment, and that due process under the Judges Inquiry Act would be required.
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The view among the legal eagles in Congress is that moving on the SC probe would not stand the test of legality, contrary to the arguments that the use of the SC report would expedite the process of dismissing the judge. The view is also likely to be conveyed by the Congress to the government.
Senior lawyer and Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi said that investigation report of the apex court is merely the institution's practice in cases of professional misconduct, and cannot substitute the legal processes.
Singhvi said setting up a three-member inquiry committee, comprising a member of the Supreme Court, a high court chief justice and a distinguished jurist, is required under the Judges Inquiry Act. "The statutory three-member committee is a must. The in-house investigation is not statutory though it is must by the practice of SC. But it is a purely SC mechanism," he told TOI.
Tankha wrote to Dhankhar, "Impeachment is a very serious matter where we have to clearly spell out charges and, therefore, it cannot be based on TV debates, social media narratives or unverified clippings.
As an eminent legal luminary yourself, we are confident that you share our concern for the sanctity of the constitutional procedures."
While the govt has announced an intent to remove Verma through impeachment in the monsoon session and is consulting the political parties, the opposition or the Parliamentarians have not yet submitted a motion on the issue. This is unlike the case of Justice Shekhar Yadav of Allahabad High Court, who triggered a controversy by making "hate speech" over the uniform civil code.
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55 opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha submitted a notice for his impeachment on December 13, 2024, but the RS is still to decide on it.
Tankha said he is not sure if the government wants to help Justice Verma or impeach him by initiating the impeachment process on the basis of the SC's inhouse probe report. "The SC inquiry was for the benefit of the Chief Justice of India and the court judges. But it does not form the legal material for the Parliamentarians to move the motion for impeachment," he argued.