Congress Today (June 20) reminded Rajya Sabha Chair Jagdeep Dhankhar about pending impeachment of Justice Shekhar Yadav for communal comments. Kapil Sibal questions why no action has been taken in six months.
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NEW DELHI: The Congress party has once again reminded Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar to take action on an old impeachment notice filed against Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court, who is accused of giving communal statements.
This reminder comes after strong comments made by Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who criticized Mr. Dhankhar for not acting on the issue even after six months. Mr. Sibal also alleged that the central government is trying to protect the judge involved in the matter.
Justice Shekhar Yadav may face impeachment after 55 Members of Parliament (MPs) from Rajya Sabha — five more than the required number — submitted the notice to remove him from office. According to rules, at least 50 Rajya Sabha MPs need to sign the motion for impeachment to be considered. In the Lok Sabha, the required number is 100 MPs.
Once this required number of MPs signs the notice, it goes to the Chairperson of Rajya Sabha or the Speaker of Lok Sabha, depending on where it was first submitted. Then it is up to them to accept or reject it. In this case, the notice was submitted on December 13, 2024.
Since that time, there has been no official action, which led to the Congress party raising the issue again and Kapil Sibal expressing strong criticism.
Mr. Sibal, a senior lawyer in the Supreme Court, pointed out that in the case of Justice Yashwant Varma, a former Delhi High Court judge who was caught in the cash-at-home scandal, action was taken more quickly.
![[VHP Event] How Can Someone Dare To Make Such Statements? This Trend Persisted Over The Past Decade: SCBA President Kapil Sibal Condemns Justice Shekhar Yadav’s Speech](https://i0.wp.com/lawchakra.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-10-3.png?resize=820%2C461&ssl=1 "[VHP Event] How Can Someone Dare To Make Such Statements? This Trend Persisted Over The Past Decade: SCBA President Kapil Sibal Condemns Justice Shekhar Yadav’s Speech")
According to sources reported by NDTV, the delay in Justice Yadav’s case may be because around 19 to 21 signatures still need to be verified. There is also a possibility that one MP may have signed the document twice, which needs to be confirmed. A detailed verification process of the MPs’ signatures is still going on, said the sources.
But Mr. Sibal raised questions about the delay, saying it should not take half a year to do this.
“I want to ask those sitting in Constitutional posts… their responsibility is to verify if signatures are there… should that take six months? Is this government is trying to protect Shekhar Yadav,”
-he was quoted by news agency PTI.
In January, this issue even reached the Allahabad High Court. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed to stop Rajya Sabha from moving ahead with the impeachment. However, the court dismissed the PIL, saying that it did not qualify as a public interest issue.
What Justice Shekhar Yadav Said
Justice Yadav was speaking on December 8 at an event hosted by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s legal cell in Prayagraj, where he made controversial remarks.
“I have no hesitation in saying that this is Hindustan… this country would function as per the wishes of the (majority)… This is the law.”
He also made other remarks related to Islamic practices like Halal and polygamy, which were widely criticized.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi strongly objected to Justice Yadav’s comments and questioned how a judge with such opinions could offer justice to minorities.
“In a democracy the minority’s rights are protected… this speech raises questions… How can a minority expect justice before someone who participates in VHP programs?”
Supreme Court Response
After this, the Supreme Court took note of the situation and asked the Allahabad High Court to provide a report. On December 17, the Collegium, led by then Chief Justice Sanjiv Kumar, heard Justice Yadav’s explanation.
Justice Yadav said that the media had twisted his words and made it a big issue without reason. He claimed that this was done to create “unnecessary controversy”.
But the Collegium rejected this excuse and gave him a warning, saying that judges must always maintain proper behavior and are always under public scrutiny.
However, the Collegium could not take further action. This is because the Rajya Sabha had already received the impeachment notice on December 13.
According to Mr. Sibal, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat wrote to the then Chief Justice and asked him not to take any steps against Justice Yadav because the impeachment was already pending.
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