• Source:JND
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Justice Varma Impeachment: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla may announce the formation of an inquiry committee to probe the ground of charges against Allahabad High Court Judge Yashwant Varma, who is set to face impeachment in the Parliament, said the sources. The development comes amid hectic parleys involving senior ministers and the two Houses of Parliament on the issue, they added.

The sources said the Lok Sabha administration has begun a consultation for the formation of a three-member committee, which will include either the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, a high court chief justice and a distinguished jurist. A notice signed by 152 MPs was submitted to Birla on July 21 is now a "property of the House".

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They said the members of the Rajya Sabha were also part of the consultation as a similar notice signed by 63 opposition MPs was submitted to then Upper House Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on the same day.

As per the procedure, the Chair is expected to write to the Chief Justice of India and the CJI will recommend two judges, while the choice of the distinguished jurist is his prerogative.

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Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha JP Nadda, Speaker Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh have been carrying out deliberations over the future course of action on the impeachment.

Earlier, Dhankhar had cited the Judges (Inquiry) Act in the Rajya Sabha on Monday to assert that when notices of a motion are submitted on the same day in both the Houses of Parliament, a committee to examine the charges levelled against the judge will be constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

Amid the deliberations on the issue, the Vice President suddenly resigned later in the evening to "prioritise health care". His resignation made a clear indication that the government was miffed with him for receiving the opposition-sponsored notice and mentioning it in the House when a bipartisan notice was already submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker, they added.

With Harivansh now at the helm in the Upper House, an opposition MP who was one of the signatories to the notice said it is now up to the Chair to decide on its fate. "We have not been told anything so far," he added. The three-member committee, the Act says, will probe "into the grounds on which the removal of a judge is prayed for".

(PTI inputs)