{"id":18951,"date":"2018-04-21T16:34:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T11:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=18951"},"modified":"2018-04-21T16:34:47","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T11:04:47","slug":"impeachment-of-cji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/impeachment-of-cji\/","title":{"rendered":"Impeachment of CJI:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Context:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Group of Opposition MPs<\/strong> have submitted a notice for Chief Justice Dipak Mishra\u2019s impeachment<\/strong> to the Rajya Sabha Chairman.<\/p>\n

Significance:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the first time a sitting Chief Justice will face an impeachment<\/strong> notice in India\u2019s constitutional history.<\/p>\n

Present Status of the impeachment motion:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The law does not require the CJI to withdraw from work until the Rajya Sabha Chairman admits <\/strong>the impeachment motion<\/strong> and refers it to an Inquiry Committee<\/strong> under the 1968 Act, things will be as usual for the CJI,<\/p>\n

What is impeachment:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Article 124(A) <\/strong>of the Indian Constitution along with the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968<\/strong> and the Judges (Inquiry) Rules, 1969<\/strong> provides for the entire process of Impeachment.<\/p>\n

2)The Article 124(4) of the Constitution says: “A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President<\/strong> passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House<\/strong> and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting<\/strong> has been presented to the President in the same session<\/strong> for such removal on the grounds of proved misbehaviour incapacity<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

3)Impeachment is an extreme step to punish an errant judge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

4)An impeachment motion must involve clear incapacity or proven misconduct.<\/strong><\/p>\n

5)Impeachment is a legislative process<\/strong> where a decision is open to judicial scrutiny.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Impeachment procedure:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 1<\/strong>: A notice of motion is issued by 100 MPs from the Lok Sabha or 50 MPs from the Rajya Sabha<\/strong>. This motion for removal can be moved in either House.<\/p>\n

Step 2<\/strong>: The motion can either be accepted or rejected by the Speaker\/Chairman<\/strong> of the House.
\nStep 3<\/strong>: If the three-member committee<\/strong> decides to support the motion, it is taken up for discussion in the House,<\/strong> where it had been introduced and must be passed by a special majority<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 4<\/strong>: Once it is passed, it is taken up in the next House<\/strong> where again it needs to be passed by a special majority.<\/p>\n

Step 5<\/strong>: After the motion is passed through both the Houses with two-third majority<\/strong>, the President of India is approached to remove the Chief Justice of India.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is it done?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)The judiciary is the guardian of the Constitution <\/strong>and its guarantee of individual liberties.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2)Its independence is vital for other institutions <\/strong>and for the framework of checks and balances<\/strong> to remain in good health<\/p>\n

Charges against Chief Justice Dipak Misra:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Denial of permission to CBI<\/strong> to register FIR against Allahabad High Court Judge.<\/p>\n

2)Involvement in a case relating to an educational trust<\/strong> that allegedly involved the payment of illegal gratification<\/strong>,.<\/p>\n

3)Antedated an administrative order <\/strong>so that it could be heard only in the CJIs court.<\/p>\n

4)Allegations about acquiring land and surrendering it 39 years later<\/strong><\/p>\n

5)Abusing his power as \u201cmaster of roster<\/strong>\u201d to allocate matters to particular benches with likely intent to influence the outcome.<\/p>\n

Why has nobody been impeached before?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)The bar is set deliberately high <\/strong>on the admissibility of such a move because the consequences for the system can be destabilising and debilitating.<\/p>\n

2)There is no restriction on the judge resigning <\/strong>during the impeachment proceedings.<\/p>\n

3)Judge-politician nexus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Issues:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Both the Constitution and the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968 are silent on whether<\/strong> a judge facing impeachment motion should refrain from judicial and administrative work<\/strong> till he is cleared of the charges against him.<\/p>\n

Consequences of Impeachment:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

1)Impeachment proceeding by the opposition like at present will lead to politicisation of the courts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2)Fear of impeachment would influence the judgements<\/strong> of the judges.<\/p>\n

Way Forward:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Impeachment as a process to remove judges requires a re-look. <\/strong>For 60 years, it has not worked wherever it was needed.<\/strong> It requires serious deliberation<\/strong> on what alternative measures can be employed to bring about errant judges in line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Context: Group of Opposition MPs have submitted a notice for Chief Justice Dipak Mishra\u2019s impeachment to the Rajya Sabha Chairman. Significance: It is the first time a sitting Chief Justice will face an impeachment notice in India\u2019s constitutional history. Present Status of the impeachment motion: The law does not require the CJI to withdraw from… Continue reading Impeachment of CJI:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":4046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-editorials","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/law.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":75,"cached_at":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}