The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Parliament retains the unfettered power to initiate removal proceedings against a judge for alleged misbehaviour or incapacity, even if the Chief Justice of India (CJI) decides to close an inquiry into the judge’s conduct.
A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih dismissed arguments that the Supreme Court’s in-house procedure for probing complaints against judges amounted to a “parallel and extra-constitutional” mechanism.
“Report or no report, recommendation or no recommendation, the Parliament’s power is unfettered. It can initiate proceedings for the removal of a judge…” the Court observed. It further clarified that even if the CJI does not recommend removal after considering an inquiry report, Parliament may still proceed. It can do so if it deems necessary.
The Court added that the converse was also true — Parliament may choose not to act despite strong grounds for removal. “The power, competence, authority and jurisdiction of the Parliament… is left untrammelled by the procedure,” the Bench said.
The judgment came in a plea filed by Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, who had challenged an in-house inquiry initiated after unaccounted cash was found during a fire at his official residence in Delhi. The CJI had forwarded the committee’s report, along with the judge’s written response, to the President and Prime Minister.
Rejecting Justice Varma’s challenge, the Court held that the in-house procedure does not violate the Judges (Protection) Act and is a legitimate mechanism to safeguard judicial integrity. “It is unreasonable to even think that despite an incident of the present nature, the CJI would wait for Parliament to take action,” the Court said, adding that the CJI has the moral, ethical, and legal authority to act in such cases.
The Bench also noted that the procedure allows withdrawal of judicial work as an extreme measure. However, other steps can be considered to protect institutional credibility.
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