RS Secretariat confirms 45 MPs’ signatures to remove HC Judge Yadav

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha secretariat has verified the signatures of 45 of the 55 MPs who had signed a notice to bring a motion for the removal of Allahabad High Court Judge Shekhar Yadav over his “hate speech” even as Kapil Sibal and eight others were yet to verify their signatures.

Sibal, who has been vocal for early action on the notice, has claimed that he has not received any email from the Rajya Sabha secretariat, which confirmed having sent the same to his official email thrice during the past six months.

He has questioned the need for the verification of signatures and the delay in initiating the process in March when the notice was submitted on December 13, 2024.

While 55 MPs have signed the notice for the removal of Justice Yadav, the signature of one of the MPs, Sarfaraz Ahmed, appears twice on the notice. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat is verifying how his signature appeared twice on the notice and whether they are forged.

Ahmed, a JMM MP from Jharkhand, has already met Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on the issue and confirmed having signed only once and not twice, sources said.

Rajya Sabha sources said the possibility of a criminal investigation by the Ethics Committee and the Privileges Committee into the notice seeking the removal of Justice Shekhar Yadav in the House cannot be ruled out as the document bears “forged” signatures of an MP.

They also said the notice for removal of Justice Yadav, which was submitted by 55 Opposition MPs, is undated and not addressed to anyone.

The Constitution states that a judge can only be removed from service after both Houses of Parliament approve a motion with a two-thirds majority of the present members. Thereafter, the President has to grant approval to the same.

Such a motion can be moved in the Rajya Sabha only after 50 MPs sign the same. For Lok Sabha, signatures of 100 MPs are needed.

While he has also questioned the logic behind the six-month time taken for signature verification, sources point out at least 10 MPs were yet to verify their signatures before the Rajya Sabha Secretariat which has sent them reminders to do so on March 7, March 13, and May 1.

The MPs whose signatures have not been verified and were yet to respond to the email queries of the Rajya Sabha secretariat include AAP’s Raghav Chadha and Sanjeev Arora, TMC’s Sushmita Dev, Kerala Congress MP Jose K Mani, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, G C Chandrasekhar and Faiyaz Ahmed.