Explained: Can a Judge Be Removed From Office? What is Impeachment ?

On the other hand, Justice Varma on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to accord urgent hearing on his plea seeking to invalidate a report by an in-house inquiry panel. The panel, earlier found him guilty of misconduct in the cash discovery row.

Justice Varma has also sought quashing of the May 8 recommendation by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna urging Parliament to initiate impeachment against him.

Earlier, a three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the Punjab and Haryana High Court conducted the inquiry for 10 days, examined 55 witnesses and visited the scene of the accidental fire on March 14 at the official residence of Justice Varma, who was the then sitting judge of Delhi High Court.

The Indian Constitution makes the process of removing a judge intentionally complex, to protect the independence of the judiciary.

The Constitution of India does not use the term Impeachment, instead it uses the word 'removal'. But the word impeachment is often used to refer to the removal of judges.

The Constitution mandates only two grounds to remove a judge of the higher judiciary:

1. Proved misbehaviour or

2. Incapacity.

Article 124(4) and (5) of the Constitution deal with the removal of Supreme Court judges, while Article 217 read with Article 124(4) mentions the removal of High Court judges.

"A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-third of the members of the House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity," Article 124 (4) of the Constitution of India reads.

Additionally, article 124 (5) empowers Parliament to oversee the procedure by establishing law, based on which The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, and Judges (Inquiry) Rules, 1969 prescribe the detailed procedure.

A motion initiating the removal process should be introduced in either of the houses -- Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. Any member of the house can initiate the process.

The motion (notice) must be signed by at least 100 MPs in Lok Sabha or 50 MPs in Rajya Sabha before submitting to the Speaker or Chairman of the respective houses.

The Speaker or Chairman has the right to admit or reject the motion.

If admitted, a three-member committee consisting of one Supreme Court Judge, One Chief Justice of the High Court and a distinguished jurist is set up to investigate the charges.

If the committee finds the judge guilty of misbehaviour or incapacity, the motion goes ahead for voting.

Both Houses of Parliament must pass the motion with a special majority or Two-thirds of members present and voting.

After both Houses pass the motion, the President signs the order to remove the judge.

The Judge who is facing charges may choose to resign any time before the completion of the removal procedure and he will get full retirement benefits.

In the history of independent India, no Supreme Court or High Court judge has been removed.

However many impeachment was initiated against some judges including the former CJI Dipak Misra in 2018, which was rejected by the then Rajya Sabha Chairman.

Moreover, Justice V Ramaswami did not get removed from office despite being found guilty by the committee since the motion failed to secure 2/3 majority votes. Nevertheless, he was not assigned any work until retirement by the then CJI.