New Delhi : Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said that the steps to remove Justice Yashwant Verma on the basis of an in-house enquiry report will be "unconstitutional", adding that a precedent like this will be a "huge" danger for judicial independence.
Sibal said that removing based on the in-house report will be an indirect way of controlling the judiciary. "Kiren Rijiju is trying with the opposition parties that they should come together to remove Justice Yashwant Verma... If they do so, we will oppose that. We warn the government that any such step will be unconstitutional. Such a precedent will be a huge danger for judicial independence... It's an indirect way of controlling the judiciary. It is dangerous to bypass the Judges' Enquiry Act... Those who are in a higher position are fulfilling their responsibility a bit slowly," Sibal told news agency.
The Rajya Sabha MP, further reacting to the impeachment motion against the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, said, "On December 13, 2024, we brought an impeachment motion against the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. 55 members of the Rajya Sabha had signed on to that.
It's been around six months, and to date, the Chairman has not taken a step forward in that direction. Those who are in constitutional posts just need to verify the signatures; should it take six months?... I tell you today - 55 signed are there - two things will happen: either no action will be taken or the 5-6 signatures will be declared invalid so the motion can be rejected..."
Earlier, on June 4, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that he is working on building a consensus amongst all political parties to move against an impeachment motion against High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.
Speaking to news agency, the Union Minister said that there is no scope for any politicking, as the impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma is a matter related to corruption in the judiciary.
"The impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma is a matter related to corruption in the judiciary. So, there is no scope for any politicking. There is no scope for taking a separate political position for every party. So, we would like to have a united stand; Parliament as a whole will have to come together to discuss this matter and move forward. So, I am building consensus amongst all political parties, and I have started discussions with prominent leaders, and I will reach out to everybody," he said.
"(The response has been) very positive. As I said, in this matter, there is no scope for taking a political stance by each party. The matter is very serious, and it is extremely important for the nation. So, when we discuss corruption, whether it's corruption in the judiciary or anywhere, it has to be taken in the best consideration of the nation. We are not going to have a partisan view on that," Rijiju added.
The Supreme Court had constituted an inquiry committee following allegations of "burnt cash" found at a storeroom of Justice Varma's residence when he was a Judge of the Delhi High Court. The in-house inquiry committee submitted its report on the issue last month, which has since been forwarded to the Prime Minister and the President of India.