Justice Yashwant Verma and Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav facing impeachment.
Both the justices facing impeachment are in the news. The first case is related to Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Verma, in whose house a huge amount of cash was found. He sent his resignation to Harashtrapati. Now Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav is retiring on Wednesday (today). The controversy related to him started in December 2024, when he gave a controversial statement in the program of an organization associated with RSS. After the controversial speech, the process of impeachment was started against him in the Parliament.
When a judge is impeached, it does not mean that he is immediately removed. This is a long and rigorous investigation process. Now the question is what will happen to Justice Verma and Justice Yadav who are facing impeachment after resignation and retirement?
What is the whole process?
Now let us understand what will change due to the resignation and retirement of the judges facing impeachment. To know this, the process of impeachment will also have to be understood. Impeachment is a constitutional process to remove controversial judges of the Supreme Court and High Court.
The process of impeachment is mentioned in Article 124(4) of the Constitution for the judges of the Supreme Court and Article 217 for the judges of the High Court. There are two grounds for impeaching judges. First is misconduct and second is incompetence. Action is possible in both these cases.
Justice Yashwant Verma.
For an impeachment motion in the Lok Sabha, it is mandatory to give notice by a minimum of 100 members and in the Rajya Sabha by 50 members. After this, an investigation committee is formed with the permission of the Speaker/Chairman. There is a rule to make a Supreme Court judge, the Chief Justice of the High Court and an eminent jurist as members in this committee.
It has been said in the report of the committee that voting takes place in both the houses to approve the guilty or acquittal of the judge. 2/3 majority is decisive. After the decision of the House, the judge can be removed with the approval of the President.
Lok Sabha.
What will happen now after resignation and retirement?
Interestingly, many judges have been impeached in India, but not a single case has been successful. In most cases, resignation has been the only option to avoid this. The purpose of impeachment in India is to remove a judge from office. If he has already left the post then the question of removing him does not arise.
Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav.
The first case is related to Yashwant Verma who has already sent his resignation to President Draupadi Murmu. The second matter is about the retirement of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, who is retiring today i.e. on 15th April. The rule says that after the resignation or retirement of a judge, the impeachment process automatically ends. That means this process becomes meaningless and there is no further parliamentary punishment.
If the allegations against the judge are going on under the general law, then investigation can be done and if the judge is found guilty, separate action will be taken. But after resignation and retirement, he escapes parliamentary punishment even if he is proved guilty.
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