Which one of the following statements with regard to the impeachment of a Judge of the Supreme Court of India is not correct?
- (a)A motion addressed to the President, signed by at least 100 members of both the Houses of the Parliament is delivered to the Speaker.
- (b)The motion is investigated by a Committee of three (2 Judges of the Supreme Court and a distinguished Jurist).
- (c)If the Committee finds the Judge guilty of misbehaviour or that he suffers from incapacity, the motion together with the report of the Committee is taken up for consideration in the House where the motion is pending.
- (d)The Judge will be removed after the President gives his order for removal.
Correct — A, the claim that a motion signed by 100 members of both Houses is delivered to the Speaker. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 requires a removal motion to be signed by at least 100 members of the Lok Sabha and given to the Speaker, or by at least 50 members of the Rajya Sabha and given to the Chairman. It is one House or the other, with different numbers, not 100 members drawn from both. The statement is also premature in calling the motion an address to the President: the address goes to the President only after each House has passed it by the required special majority.
- (b)The motion is investigated by a Committee of three (2 Judges of the Supreme Court and a distinguished Jurist). — The three-member inquiry committee is genuine. The Act provides for the Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court, a Chief Justice of a High Court, and a distinguished jurist; the paper's bracket describes both judicial members loosely, but a committee of three including a distinguished jurist is what the statute lays down, so this is not the statement being pointed at.
- (c)If the Committee finds the Judge guilty of misbehaviour or that he suffers from incapacity, the motion together with the report of the Committee is taken up for consideration in the House where the motion is pending. — This is exactly how the Act works. An adverse finding sends the motion, with the report, back to the House in which it was moved; a finding in the judge's favour ends the matter there.
- (d)The Judge will be removed after the President gives his order for removal. — Article 124(4) makes the President's order the operative last step, issued once both Houses have passed the address in the same session. Removal follows that order, so the statement is correct.
Article 124(4) makes a Supreme Court judge removable only for proved misbehaviour or incapacity, and only after an address by each House supported by a majority of that House's total membership and by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting, presented to the President in the same session. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 supplies the machinery in front of that vote — who may move the motion, who may admit it, and how the charge is investigated before either House debates it.
The popular word for this is impeachment, but the Constitution reserves impeachment for the President under Article 61 and calls this a removal. The numbers are the examiner's favourite hook: 100 in the Lok Sabha, 50 in the Rajya Sabha, and a special majority in each House, with the same procedure applying to High Court judges under Article 218. As of the 2023 exam no judge of the higher judiciary had ever been removed by this route, though it has been started more than once — the motion against Justice V. Ramaswami fell in the Lok Sabha in 1993 after the inquiry committee had found against him, and Justice Soumitra Sen resigned in 2011 once the Rajya Sabha had passed the motion and before the Lok Sabha could take it up.
- Grounds for removal are proved misbehaviour or incapacity, and nothing else.
- A removal motion needs 100 signatures in the Lok Sabha or 50 in the Rajya Sabha, given to the Speaker or the Chairman respectively.
- The presiding officer may admit or refuse the motion; if admitted, a three-member committee investigates — the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, a High Court Chief Justice, and a distinguished jurist.
- Each House must then pass the address by a majority of its total membership and two-thirds of those present and voting, in the same session.
- Article 218 applies the same procedure to judges of the High Courts.
- Motion signed by 100 Lok Sabha members, or 50 Rajya Sabha members
- Given to the Speaker or the Chairman, who may admit or refuse it
- Three-member committee investigates the charge
- If the finding is adverse, the House takes up the motion with the report
- Both Houses pass the address by special majority in the same session
- President issues the order of removal
The address reaches the President at the end of the process, not at the beginning.
- Swapping the two numbers, or applying 100 to the Rajya Sabha.
- Calling the procedure impeachment and importing the President's removal rules into it.
- Assuming an adverse committee finding removes the judge; only the two Houses and then the President can do that.
Asked as a which-one-is-not-correct item built around procedural numbers, so the examiner is testing recall of the Judges (Inquiry) Act's thresholds rather than of Article 124's language.
Consider the following statements: 1. The mode of removal of a Judge of a High Court in India is the same as that of removal of a Judge of the Supreme Court. 2. After retirement from office, a permanent Judge of a High Court cannot plead or act in any court or before any authority in India. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(a) 1 only
Confirms the reach of the same procedure. Article 218 applies the Supreme Court removal route to High Court judges unchanged, which is why the signature thresholds and the special majority are worth learning once.
- practice — not a real PYQ
A motion for the removal of a Supreme Court judge introduced in the Rajya Sabha must carry the signatures of at least how many members?
- (a)25
- (b)50
- (c)100
- (d)One-tenth of the House
Answer(b) 50 — the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 sets 50 for the Rajya Sabha and 100 for the Lok Sabha.
- practice — not a real PYQ
On what grounds may a Judge of the Supreme Court of India be removed?
- (a)Proved misbehaviour or incapacity
- (b)Loss of confidence of the collegium
- (c)A vote of no confidence in the Lok Sabha
- (d)Any ground Parliament decides by law
Answer(a) Proved misbehaviour or incapacity — Article 124(4) admits no other ground.