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Madras High Court: This order of Madras High Court has created a controversy and on December 9, many opposition MPs under the leadership of DMK submitted a proposal to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for the removal of the judge.
Madras High Court : Former judges have issued a statement condemning the attempt to impeach in Parliament to remove Justice GR Swaminathan of Madras High Court. He has called this impeachment brought by DMK a ‘shameless attempt to intimidate the judges’. On December 1, Justice Swaminathan said it was the responsibility of the Arulmighu Subramaniam Swamy Temple to light lamps on the Deepathoon in addition to the traditional lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam. Swaminathan’s single bench said that doing so would not violate the rights of the nearby Dargah or the Muslim community.
Impeachment handed over to the Speaker
This order of the Madras High Court has sparked controversy and on December 9, several opposition MPs led by DMK submitted a proposal to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to remove the judge. The statement further said that this is an open attempt to intimidate those judges who do not conform to the thinking and political expectations of a particular section of the society. He further said that if such efforts are taken forward, it will destroy the very roots of our democracy and independence of the judiciary. The statement said that even if the indictment signed by the MPs was true, it was not enough to justify a rare, special and serious constitutional step like peaching.
56 former judges signed the statement
Two former judges of the Supreme Court, five former Chief Justices of the High Court and 49 retired High Court judges have signed the statement. He said this fits into a clear and very disturbing pattern in our recent constitutional history, where there is an attempt by some sections of the political class to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary. Apart from this, an attempt has been made to use impeachment as a weapon to create pressure, which is a direct attack on judicial independence and constitutional democracy. He said that the real purpose of the impeachment mechanism is to maintain the integrity of the judiciary, and not to create a tool to signal pressure and take retaliatory action.
Ensure accountability towards the Constitution
The statement further said that using the threat of removal to force judges to conform to political expectations is to use the constitutional safeguard as a tool of intimidation. It says that such an approach is anti-democratic, anti-constitutional and bad for the rule of law. Apart from this, he said that today a judge can be targeted and tomorrow it can happen to the entire institution. He said that we urge all stakeholders, MPs from all parties, bar members, civil society and common people to unequivocally condemn this step. The statement also said that judges have to be accountable to the Constitution rather than to party and political agenda pressure.
