Issues in removal

♤ Lack of Enforcement: The Act has only been invoked three times since 1950.

o Interestingly, no judge of the SC or HC has been impeached so far. The few cases taken up by the Parliament were Justice V. Ramaswami (1991-93), Justice Soumitra Sen, Justice P.D. Dinakaran.

o Recently, Chief Justice of India has written to Prime Minister to initiate a motion for removal of a judge of Allahabad High Court.

♤ Lack of Clarity- The law does not define what misbehaviour is and hence ultimately fails to recognize the wide range of misbehaviour.

♤ Lack of Transparency: The proceedings are wrapped in secrecy and the judge continues to hold the post.

o Both the Constitution and the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968 are silent on whether a judge facing impeachment motion should recuse from judicial and administrative work till he is cleared of the charges against him.

o The Judge under investigation is not prohibited from discharging his duties in court of law.

♤ Cumbersome Process: Impeachment process is tedious and lengthy, judges have virtually no accountability.

♤ It also involves political considerations: Only Parliament can take cognizance of a case of a tainted judge. No space is given to a common man. For example, the Congress abstained

from voting on the resolution when the motion for removal of Justice V. Ramaswami was moved in 1993 resulting in failure of the process.

♤ Judiciary removing itself: Contempt of court ruling may amount to removing him as a judge, thus, amounting to judicially-ordered impeachment.

Can chairman reject impeachment motion?

♤ Section 3 of Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, says the presiding officer may admit or refuse to admit the motion after holding consultations with such persons as he thinks fit, and considering the material before him.

♤ Earlier also impeachment motions having been shot down. For e.g.: motion moved against Supreme Court judge J.C. Shah was rejected by the then Lok Sabha Speaker, G.S. Dhillon, in 1970.

♤ The job of the Chairman is not just procedural to see the required no of signatures but to also see whether there is a prima facie case, whether the notice for motion is based on substantial grounds, before admitting or rejecting.

♤ Even mere admission of an impeachment motion can cause incalculable damage to reputation in this perception-driven world. Thus, motion needs to be admitted very carefully.