The impeachment notice by 54 Rajya Sabha MPs against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Yadav—over his controversial remark at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad event last year, where he said, “I have no hesitation in saying that this is Hindustan… and the country will run according to the majority who live in Hindustan”—has been confirmed to bear at least 50 valid signatures, meeting the minimum required to move the process forward.
According to an Indian Express report, so far only 44 of the MPs who signed the impeachment notice against Justice Yadav have verified their signatures, after the Rajya Sabha Secretariat sought confirmation through emails and calls in March and May this year.
This follows the Secretariat’s detection of a mismatch in nine signatures compared to official records, and one MP, Sarfaraz Ahmed, had his signature appear twice.
A total of 54 MPs submitted the notice in December last year. Under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, a minimum of 50 Rajya Sabha MPs or 100 Lok Sabha MPs is required to move a motion for a judge’s impeachment.
Sources said the notice has not been rejected by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, as the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, does not prescribe any specific timeframe for deciding on such a notice.
Among the 11 MPs who had not authenticated their signatures as of May 23 were Kapil Sibal, P. Chidambaram, Sushmita Dev, Sanjeev Arora, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, Jose K. Mani, Faiyaz Ahmed, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, G. C. Chandrasekhar, Raghav Chadha, and N. R. Elango.
Some said they had not been contacted or were unaware of the email, while others assured they would verify soon.
When contacted by The Indian Express, Kapil Sibal said he had met the Chairman several times and was never asked about his signature. He added that he did not know which email ID the communication was sent to and pointed out that he was the one who had presented the notice with the signatures.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.