WHY IMPEACHMENT IS ON NEWS NOW ? After the accusation of Chief Justice of India by 4 Senior most judges of Supreme Court - the impeachment proceedings are initiated under the Judges Inquiry Act of 1968.
WHAT WERE THE GROUNDS ? Two grounds are cited while moving an impeachment motion- proved misbehavior and incapacity.
THUS – HIGH CHANCES OF BEING ASKED IN UPSC LAW OPTIONAL MAINS 2018
WHAT ARE THE RELEVANT LAWS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF A JUDGE ?
Article 124 of Indian Constitution.
WHAT ART. 124 SAYS ? Exactly saying relevant provisions ( impeachment of SC judge) are Article 124(4) and Article 124(5) .
Clause (4) : A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President.
PRE-CONDITION ?
It must be passed after an address by each House of Parliament.
It also must be supported by a majority of the total membership of that House + by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting.
Must be presented to the President in the same session for such removal.
Ground must be of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.
POWER OF PARLIAMENT TO MAKE LAWS : As per clause (5) Parliament may by law regulate
the procedure for the presentation of an address and
for the investigation and proof of the misbehaviour or incapacity of a Judge under clause (4).
By the above sanction parliament has passed
2) the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 and
3) the Judges (Inquiry) Rules, 1969 which provides the complete rules.
PAST HISTORY OF IMPEACHMENTS :
FIRST JUDGE AGAINST WHOM IMPEACHMENT PROCEDURE WAS STARTED : V. Ramaswami was the judge of the Supreme Court of India and the first judge against whom removal proceedings were initiated in Independent India .
FIRST JUDGE TO BE IMPEACHED : The only other judge to face removal proceedings is Justice "Soumitra Sen" of Calcutta High Court, was initiated and was successfully impeached.
Another such motion was initiated against Chief Justice Dinakaran of Sikkim High Court who then resigned from his post.
‘IMPEACHMENT IS NOT ALWAYS THE SOLUTION’ : Audit of judiciary needed.
WHAT WAS SAID ? “Instead of impeachment of CJI, efforts should be made first to correct the system or put a “proper, alternative” system in place”
WHO SAID THESE ? Justice Chelameswar – Supreme Court Judge
To know the step- by –step easy procedure for impeaching a judge kindly refer diagram below :
EXPECTED QUESTIONS FROM THIS AREA !!!
QUESTION 1 : Removal of a judge in India is almost an impossible task – do you agree ? Discuss with recent issues.
HOW TO APPROACH THIS QUESTION :
START WITH : 2 liner definition/ meaning of impeachment – relevant Art, Laws and Acts
BODY : Discuss the procedure in detail and how hard it is – its practical possibility
CONCLUSION : Conclude with your opinion + analysis with recent issues ( earlier impeachment could be called for back up )
QUESTION 2 : Corruption has deep roots in our country and judiciary is no exception- do you think impeachment as the only solution to curb corruption in Indian Judiciary ?
HOW TO APPROACH THIS QUESTION :
START WITH : Importance of judiciary and recent corrupt activities in it.
BODY PART 1: What is impeachment – how it is useful to check corruption – discuss about checks and balance point in impeachment – chance of corruption in impeachment procedure itself.
BODY PART 2: Other means to check corruption in judiciary – your own with practical solution.
CONCLUSION : Way forward for better corruption free judiciary.
QUESTION 3 : Write a short note on impeachment of supreme court judge.
HOW TO APPROACH THIS QUESTION ?
START WITH : Concept of impeachment of Supreme and its necessity
BODY : Impeachment laws , Impeachment procedure , Past impeachments, Rationale behind impeachment.
CONCLUSION : Lacunae in impeachment and your suggestions if any.
