 Summary of this article
- The Supreme Court said there is no bar under the Judges Inquiry Act on the Lok Sabha Speaker constituting an inquiry committee even if a similar motion is rejected by the Rajya Sabha.
- The case centres on impeachment motions moved in both Houses on the same day and allegations against Justice Varma following the recovery of half-burnt cash at his residence.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday orally observed that there was no bar under the Judges Inquiry Act on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituting an inquiry committee to examine corruption allegations against Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma, even though a similar motion had been rejected in the Rajya Sabha.
Expressing a prima facie view, a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma said it was not persuaded by the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Justice Varma, that the deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha lacked the authority to reject the motion after the resignation of chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar.
At the same time, the court noted that there appeared to be “some infirmity” in the manner in which the Lok Sabha Speaker constituted the inquiry panel, and said it would examine whether the defect was serious enough to justify terminating the proceedings.
Rohatgi opposed the constitution of the inquiry committee at the outset, arguing that when impeachment motions are moved simultaneously in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, any inquiry panel must be formed jointly by the two Houses.
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“Prima facie let us be clear that we are not with Rohatgi on (point) one and two (setting up of the inquiry panel and the action of Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha to reject the motion)... We have to only see if we should intervene under Article 32 to see if the person (Justice Varma) should have got the benefit of the joint committee (of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha)...,” Justice Datta said.
Justice Yashwant Varma Faces Parliamentary Probe, Resignation Seen As Only Way To Retain Benefits
BY Outlook News Desk |
