New Delhi: Months after an in-house panel found an Allahabad High Court judge, Justice S.N. Shukla, guilty of misconduct, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a motion for his removal.
A three-judge committee, comprising Chief Justices Indira Banerjee, S.K. Agnihotri and P.K. Jaiswal of the Madras, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, respectively, in January 2018 concluded there was sufficient substance in the allegations in the complaint against Justice Shukla and that the aberrations were serious enough to call for initiation of proceedings for his removal.
Following the committee’s report, the then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, in accordance with the relevant in-house procedure, advised Justice Shukla either to resign or seek voluntary retirement.
After he refused to do so, Chief Justice Misra asked the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to withdraw judicial work from him with immediate effect, after which he reportedly went on a long leave.
On March 23, Justice Shukla wrote to Chief Justice Gogoi, requesting that he be allowed to discharge judicial work in the High Court.
“As the allegations against Justice Shukla were found by the committee to be so serious as to warrant the initiation of proceedings for his removal, he cannot be allowed to resume judicial work in any High Court. In these circumstances, you are requested to consider further action,” Chief Justice Gogoi wrote to the PM.
When the CJI writes to the President and the PM for removal of a High Court judge, the Rajya Sabha Chairperson appoints a three-judge inquiry committee in consultation with the CJI to look into the allegations.
