Sitting HC judge stares at possible impeachment

New Delhi: The country is all set to witness another case of the impeachment of a sitting high court judge following the recommendations of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra. Justice Shri Narayan Shukla, who is the eighth senior-most judge of the Allahabad High Court, is set to face impeachment proceedings in the matter of a medical scam case after an adverse report about him by an in-house panel, which was set up by the CJI.

According to political experts, the impeachment motion would be moved in both the Houses of the Parliament and it must be passed by two-thirds majority.

"In case, some parties abstain from the House, the motion may not be passed. Also, if Justice SN Shukla resigns, the motion wouldn't be moved in the House," the legal experts pointed out.

Explaining the role of government in the impeachment process, the experts said: "The government's role is just to facilitate Parliament in its proceedings. As impeachment is not a party-centric issue, the members can their vote on the conduct of the judge in question."

Earlier, Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court was to be impeached by Parliament in 2011, but Sen tendered his resignation and the motion stood nullified. Sen had resigned after the Rajya Sabha had passed the motion making him the first judge to have been impeached by the Upper House for misconduct.

In another case, Justice V Ramaswami was 'saved' from being impeached after Congress abstained from the Lok Sabha vote in 1993 when PV Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister.

Other judges against whom impeachment was moved are Justices JB Pardiwala and PD Dinakaran. The impeachment notice was moved against Pardiwala in 2015 by a group of 58 Rajya Sabha MPs for his objectionable remarks on the issue of reservation, while the Rajya Sabha Chairman had set up a judicial panel to look into allegations of corruption against Dinakaran, who had resigned in July 2011 before impeachment proceedings could be initiated against him.