The Hindu : Front Page : “Bring in impeachment motion against Bhalla”

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Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
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“Bring in impeachment motion against Bhalla”

J. Venkatesan

COJA issues an appeal to members of Parliament

New Delhi: The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms (COJA) on Friday urged MPs to initiate a motion for impeachment of Justice Jagdish Bhalla, acting Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court, for allegedly committing irregularities.

Addressing the press here, senior lawyers Fali Nariman and Shanthi Bhushan and advocate Prashant Bhushan said all other attempts for an independent investigation into the allegations had failed.

Charges levelled

They took exception to Mr. Justice Bhalla being made a regular Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Releasing a copy of the motion containing three specific charges, to be signed by the MPs, Mr. Nariman said: “The motion will have to be signed by 100 MPs of the Lok Sabha or 50 MPs of the Rajya Sabha. On admission of the motion, a three-member enquiry committee of judges would be constituted by the Speaker, Lok Sabha, or the Chairman, Rajya Sabha. The person against whom the charges are made would then get a full opportunity in the investigation proceedings to defend himself before his peers.”

Mr. Nariman said: “If the report of the committee contains a finding that the judge is not guilty of any misbehaviour, the motion shall lapse; otherwise, the motion, together with reports of the committee, will be taken up for consideration by the House or Houses of Parliament in which it is pending and then proceeded with under the constitutional provisions relating to impeachment.”

Mr. Shanthi Bhushan said, “We are requesting all MPs to sign the motion for initiation of proceedings under the Judges Inquiry Act. We will be sending copies to leaders of all political parties with a request that they get the motion signed by their party MPs for appropriate action.”

Mr. Prashant Bhushan said COJA was resorting to this step as all its efforts with various authorities in the last 15 months for getting the matter enquired into failed.

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