RS Secretariat confirms 44 MPs' signatures to remove HC Judge Yadav; Sibal, 9 others yet to verify
He has questioned the need for verification of signatures and the delay in initiating the process in March when the notice was submitted on December 13, 2024.
Sibal, who has been vocal for early action on the notice, has claimed that he has not received any email from the Rajya Sabha secretariat, which confirmed having sent the same to his official email thrice during the past six months.
New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) The Rajya Sabha secretariat has verified the signatures of 44 of the 55 MPs who had signed a notice to bring a motion for the removal of Allahabad High Court Judge Shekhar Yadav over his 'hate speech' even as Kapil Sibal and nine others were yet to verify their signatures.
While 55 MPs have signed the notice for the removal of Justice Yadav, the signature of one of the MPs, Sarfaraz Ahmed, appears twice on the notice. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat is verifying how his signature appeared twice on the notice and whether they are forged.
Ahmed, the JMM MP from Jharkhand, has already met Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on the issue and confirmed having signed only once and not twice, sources said.
They also said the notice for removal of Justice Yadav, which was submitted by 55 opposition MPs, is undated and not addressed to anyone.
The Constitution states that a judge can only be removed from service after both Houses of Parliament approve a motion with a two-thirds majority of the present members. Thereafter, the President has to grant approval to the same.
Such a motion can be moved in the Rajya Sabha only after 50 MPs sign the same. For Lok Sabha, signatures of 100 MPs are needed.
According to sources, Sibal, a former Union minister and now an Independent MP, is yet to verify his signature with the Rajya Sabha Secretariat even after three reminders on his official email in the last six months.
'I have met Chairman Dhankhar several times but he has never raised the issue of verification of my signatures on the notice for the removal of Justice Yadav as I am the presenter and initiator of the entire process,' Sibal told PTI.
He also mentioned that the need for signature verification arises only when someone questions the signatures on the notice. He also questioned the delay and said the House chairman should accept or reject the notice and not delay the process.
Sibal has been extremely vocal on the issue and has questioned the delay in the acceptance of the notice for removal of Justice Yadav by the Rajya Sabha chairman.
He has said that such a judge should not be protected and has called for the removal of Justice Yadav for making communal remarks at an event last year.
While he has also questioned the logic behind the six-month period taken for signature verification, sources point out at least 10 MPs were yet to verify their signatures before the Rajya Sabha Secretariat which has sent them reminders to do so on March 7, March 13, and May 1.
P Chidambaram said the physical document (notice) was shown to him for the first time on Tuesday for verification of his signature, which he has done. However, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat did not confirm the same.
The MPs whose signatures have not been verified and were yet to respond to the email queries of the Rajya Sabha secretariat include AAP's Raghav Chadha and Sanjeev Arora, TMC's Sushmita Dev, Kerala Congress MP Jose K Mani, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, G C Chandrasekhar and Faiyaz Ahmed.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankar had already addressed the issue in the House during the last session and confirmed that the representation by MPs has to be verified and the process was underway.
'I have taken all procedural steps, but I must share with you one concern that is engaging my attention. Of the 55 members, who signed the representation, a member's signature appears on two occasions and the member concerned has denied his signature.
'I do not wish to get into this act which may graduate to culpability to a higher level. If the number is above 50, I will proceed accordingly. Most of the members have cooperated. Those members, who have not done so far, may please do it in response to the second mail sent to them. Then, the process will not be delayed at my level even for a moment,' he told the House on March 21 this year.
Rajya Sabha sources said the possibility of a criminal investigation by the Ethics Committee and the Privileges Committee into the notice seeking the removal of Justice Shekhar Yadav in the House cannot be ruled out as the document bears 'forged' signatures.
Article 124 of the Constitution states, 'A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.' 'Parliament may by law regulate the procedure for the presentation of an address and for the investigation and proof of the misbehaviour or incapacity of a Judge under clause (4),' it adds. PTI SKC SKC NSD
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
26 minutes ago
- News18
'She Can Be Picked Up Anytime': How Indira Gandhi's Cousin Faced Backlash During 1975 Emergency
During the 1975 Emergency, Nayantara Sahgal, Nehru's niece, faced censorship for criticising Indira Gandhi's regime but continued to speak out against authoritarianism During the dark days of the Emergency in 1975, when the Constitution was bent to serve autocratic power, one woman stood firm against the tide – Nayantara Sahgal, acclaimed author and niece of Jawaharlal Nehru. What she faced in return was an orchestrated campaign of censorship, social isolation, and political intimidation. Sahgal, also a aunt to Sanjay Gandhi and the daughter of India's first female ambassador, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, had long been a critic of the establishment. But the Emergency, declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in June 1975, marked a turning point in the state's response to dissenting voices. While she had previously crossed swords with the ruling government back then, what followed during the 19-month Emergency period went beyond mere ideological clashes; it became personal, institutional, and coercive. Suddenly, editorial doors began to shut. Newspaper editors who once sought her columns stopped returning calls. Publishers who earlier queued for her manuscripts now declined them with polite apologies. Even a foreign filmmaker who had earlier expressed interest in adapting her novel This Time of Morning into a film quietly withdrew from the project – fearful, reportedly, that any link with Sahgal might cost him his access to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It was clear that an invisible cordon had been drawn around her. And it wasn't just professional isolation. In one of the most chilling moments of her life, she later wrote, she began to suspect that her phone was being tapped and her movements monitored. Despite pressure, even from her own mother, to steer clear of politics, Sahgal refused to remain silent. In December 1975, at the height of the crackdown, she authored a pamphlet sharply critical of the regime. She condemned the jailing of political dissidents and the authoritarian drift of the Congress. Her outspokenness, however, came with consequences. Thousands were imprisoned under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), many without formal charges. While Sahgal narrowly escaped arrest, those close to her were warned of looming threats. Siddhartha Shankar Ray, then West Bengal Chief Minister and a key figure in the Emergency-era apparatus, allegedly told Sahgal's sister that Nayantara could be picked up 'any time". Yet she remained undeterred. In her 1977 book A Voice for Freedom, she recalled being asked to present her manuscript for A Situation in New Delhi to the Chief Censor, Harry D'Penh. He suggested she obtain permission from the Home Ministry. She refused. 'I brought my manuscript home and forgot about it," she wrote, adding, 'It had no importance in the face of the pain… of those thousands of anonymous people who were not even in a position to protest." The state's grip extended to literary freedom itself. Vidya Charan Shukla, then Minister of Information and Broadcasting and a key figure in Indira Gandhi's inner circle, allegedly told Sahgal's mother that her daughter would no longer be able to write about politics. Vijayalakshmi Pandit shot back, asserting that politics was hardly the only subject her daughter could write about, though the remark did little to blunt the censor's blade. What stung even more was the betrayal within her own political lineage. With the Congress increasingly resembling a personality cult around Indira and Sanjay Gandhi, Sahgal began to drift toward opposition voices. She surprised many by expressing openness to the Jan Sangh, a party previously considered taboo in liberal Nehruvian circles. At one public event, she reportedly told Jan Sangh leader Subramanian Swamy, 'People need to be told that the Jan Sangh does not have three horns and a tail." Meanwhile, in Parliament and government, a different spectacle was unfolding – a grotesque competition in sycophancy. With the 42nd Amendment, Indira Gandhi's regime extended the life of the Lok Sabha and attempted to curtail judicial review. Congress leaders vied to outdo one another in praise. Devakanta Barua famously declared, 'India is Indira, Indira is India." But AR Antulay pushed the envelope further, hailing Indira as 'the daughter of Nehru, the daughter of Bharat, the daughter of the past, present and future," and praising her for cleansing the party of Nehruvians, the very tradition Sahgal held dear. Not to be left behind, Defence Minister Bansi Lal went as far as to suggest that elections were unnecessary altogether. According to a revealing conversation with BK Nehru, Indira Gandhi's cousin, Bansi Lal reportedly said, 'End all these electoral hassles… our sister should be made Prime Minister for life. Make her President and then there is no need to do anything." All signs pointed to Sanjay Gandhi, the unelected and constitutionally unaccountable power centre, as the shadow orchestrator of much of this excess. In bureaucrat BN Tandon's PMO Diary: The Emergency, published much later in 2006, an entry dated 28 May 1976 exposes the pettiness that defined the Indira Gandhi regime. It recounts how Indira vetoed a proposal to allot an LPG agency to the poverty-stricken sister of K Kamaraj, a veteran Congress leader, simply because she remained loyal to the 'old Congress" and refused to shift allegiance to Indira's faction. This quiet cruelty, dressed in administrative decisions, was the defining trait of the Emergency. And for people like Nayantara Sahgal, the cost was personal, professional, and emotional. Yet her resolve remained. In defiance of silence, she chose to write. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from politics to crime and society. Stay informed with the latest India news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: June 25, 2025, 14:37 IST
The Hindu
35 minutes ago
- The Hindu
BJP staging drama on Emergency to hide governance failure: Kharge
An undeclared emergency prevailed in the country, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) while accusing the BJP of staging a Samvidhan Hatya Diwas "drama" to hide its governance failure. Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his jibes on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, he said a government which has no tolerance and does not allow fraternity and liberty to prosper has no right to lecture others. Also Read | No Indian will ever forget manner in which spirit of Constitution was violated: PM Modi on Emergency Addressing a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan, Mr. Kharge slammed the BJP-RSS and said those who "played no role in the independence of the country, in framing the Constitution, and rejected Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution" are raking up the Emergency, 50 years after it was imposed. The same people are now talking of saving the Constitution, he added. Slamming Prime Minister Modi, Mr. Kharge said the Constitution is in danger because of him and his governance. The Congress chief also alleged that there is no freedom of expression and movement under the Modi government. "Those (BJP-RSS) people who are talking of Samvidhan bachao are now raking up the Emergency after 50 years. It was something people had forgotten and they are now raking it up," he said. Mr. Kharge said that the BJP-RSS had rejected the Constitution and stated that it did not have our cultural aspects, such as elements of the Manusmriti. "They (BJP-RSS) did all this and have now been suddenly enlightened." According to the Congress chief, the BJP is rattled by the Congress' Samvidhan Bachao Yatra and is therefore raking up the Emergency of 50 years ago. The government marks the Emergency anniversary as Samvidhan Hatyas Diwas, or Constitution Murder Day. "These people failed in governance, and their failure is such that people are concerned over inflation, the government has no answer to unemployment, corruption and economic failure. To hide their lies and failure, they have staged this drama," Mr. Kharge said. He said economic inequalities have widened so much that they cannot be bridged. "You have brought in an undeclared emergency," the Congress president said. He also slammed the government over its handling of the situation in Manipur.
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Deccan Herald
Those who had strangled Constitution are now trying to become its protector: Himanta on 50 years of Emergency
As we mark 50 years of this brutal episode, India pays tribute to the brave men and women who stood firm to uphold the Constitution during those dark times. It was solely due to their courageous efforts and valiant sacrifices that the Congress party was brought to its knees -…
