Court observed that rejection of a motion against a judge in one House (i.e. LS or RS) would not render the other House incompetent to proceed with investigation and form an inquiry committee.
Constitutional Provisions Related to removal of Judges
- Article 124 and 218 deals with removal of judges of SC and High Court(HC) respectively
- Grounds for removal: Proven misbehavior and incapacity (Not defined in the Constitution).
- Procedure is regulated by Judges Enquiry Act (1968).
- Note: There is no mention of word impeachment for removal of judges in the constitution.
Steps in the removal Process
- Initiation: A motion must be signed by at least 100 Lok Sabha (LS) or 50 Rajya Sabha (RS) members and
- Submitted to the presiding officer of respective House who may or may not admit it.
- Investigation: if admitted it is referred to a 3-member inquiry committee comprising: Supreme Court Judge, a High Court Chief Justice, and a distinguished jurist.
- The committee is constituted by the Speaker of LS or the Chairman of RS, as the case may be, upon admission of the notice of motion.
- After concluding its investigation, the committee will submit its report to the speaker or chairman, who will then lay the report before the relevant house of parliament.
- If the report records a finding of misbehaviour or incapacity, the motion for removal will be taken up for consideration and debated.
- Parliamentary Approval: Motion requires special majority in both Houses of Parliament (2/3d majority of members present and voting and a majority of total membership).
- Presidential Action: judges can be removed only by an order of the president, based on a motion passed by both houses of parliament.
- Till date, no judge of the higher judiciary (SC and HC) has been successfully impeached and removed.
