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Shah, Nadda meet Birla amid row over justice Varma impeachment
The three senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders’ meeting with the Lok Sabha speaker was followed by another marathon meeting between Birla and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh.
Union home minister Amit Shah, leader of the Rajya Sabha and health minister JP Nadda and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, with the meeting coming amid a buzz that the government might ignore the notice signed by 63 Rajya Sabha members for the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma and stick to its plan to push the impeachment process through the Lok Sabha.
The three senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders’ meeting with the Lok Sabha speaker was followed by another marathon meeting between Birla and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh. Two senior officials said the pending impeachment notices were one of the key topics of discussion.
Officials indicated that the government does not want to sit on the issue and may urge the presiding officers to start the impeachment process by appointing a committee of jurists to look into the allegations against the high court judge, from whose Delhi residence a wad of cash was allegedly recovered in March, give a report to Parliament.
The developments come amid a debate around whether former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar had admitted the Opposition-sponsored notice or not. Just hours before resigning from the post on Monday evening, Dhankhar had told the Rajya Sabha: “I need to inform you that I have received notice of motion under Article 217(1)(B) read with Article 218 and Article 124…to constitute a statutory committee for removal of Justice Yashwant Varma. This has been received by me today. It was signed by more than 50 members of the Council of States.” He then went on to read out the procedure of impeachment, as described in the Judges (Inquiry) Act.
Earlier that day, a total of 145 Lok Sabha lawmakers, from various parties, submitted to Speaker Birla a notice to initiate impeachment process against Justice Varma in connection with the cash discovery row.
Talking to HT, former Lok Sabha secretary PDT Achary said the government can simply ignore the notice in the Rajya Sabha as the same has not been admitted. “The Speaker has admitted the notice. But in the Rajya Sabha, the chair informed the House that he had received it. In this case, the Lok Sabha will have preference,” Achary added.
According to the Judges (Inquiry) Act: “Provided that where notices of a motion referred to in sub-section (1) are given on the same day in both Houses of Parliament, no Committee shall be constituted unless the motion has been admitted in both Houses and where such motion has been admitted in both Houses, the Committee shall be constituted jointly by the Speaker and the Chairman.”
Though both notices were given on the same day, there is a debate whether Dhankhar had admitted it or not.
Opposition leaders insist that the notice was admitted as Dhankhar had mentioned it in the House. “While admitting the notice, he also informed the House that he had asked the secretary general to find out if a similar notice had been admitted or not and then read out the legal provisions if notices are admitted on the same day in both House,” an opposition leader said.
A senior Lok Sabha functionary said that with Dhankhar now gone, Harivansh is unlikely to emphasise on the notice. A section of the Lok Sabha officials sounded confident that the impeachment debate will start from the Lower House.
A senior government functionary said the government would prefer to proceed for impeachment with the notice served in the Lok Sabha as it has signatures of more than 10 parties, including the BJP. “The government is in no mood to take up the Opposition-sponsored notice,” the functionary added.
