No comments on judge's impeachment as matter not before Parliament yet: LS Speaker Om Birla
No comments on judge's impeachment as matter not before Parliament yet: LS Speaker Om Birla
Mumbai, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday said the matter related to the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma is not before Parliament yet and there is no point commenting on the issue.
"We can discuss the issue when it is brought before Parliament. There is no point talking about a matter that is not before the House," Birla told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.
The then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna had written to the president and the prime minister to remove Justice Varma, who is mired in a cash-discovery row.
Justice Khanna's report was based on the findings of a three-judge in-house panel that investigated the case.
Justice Khanna had prodded Justice Varma to resign but the latter had refused.
A motion for impeachment could be brought in either of the two Houses of Parliament.
In the Rajya Sabha, at least 50 members have to sign the motion. In the Lok Sabha, 100 members have to support it.
According to the Judges Act of 1968, once a motion to remove a judge is admitted in any of the Houses, the speaker or the chairman, as the case may be, will constitute a three-member committee to investigate the grounds on which the removal has been sought.
The committee consists of the CJI or a Supreme Court judge, the chief justice of one of the 25 high courts and a "distinguished jurist".
The monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to begin from July 21 and conclude on August 12.
A fire incident at Justice Varma's residence in the national capital in March, when he was a judge of the Delhi High Court, led to the discovery of several burnt sacks of cash at the outhouse.
Though the judge claimed ignorance about the cash, the Supreme Court-appointed committee indicted him after speaking to a number of witnesses and recording his statement.
The apex court has since transferred Justice Varma to his parent high court, the Allahabad High Court, where he has not been assigned any judicial work.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
