Pending impeachment notice against Justice Shekhar Yadav confirmed signed by 50 Rajya Sabha MPs: Report

A screenshot from the video of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav's address at the VHP event on December 8. (X/@cpimspeak)

At least 50 of the 54 MPs who submitted an impeachment notice against Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court have confirmed to have signed the notice, reports The Indian Express, signifying a crucial step in the process for the Rajya Sabha Chairman to move forward with the proceedings.

While Rajya Sabha sources have confirmed that only 44 Opposition MPs have verified their signatures to the Rajya Sabha secretariat, The Indian Express report claims that six of the 10 remaining MPs confirmed to the paper that they have since verified their signatures to the secretariat.

Notably, the signatures of a minimum of 50 MPs in the Rajya Sabha or 100 in the Lok Sabha are required for the notice of motion to impeach a judge, as per the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. The Act, however, does not specify any timeframe for the Rajya Sabha Chairman to decide on the notice submitted.

On December 13 last year, Opposition MPs had submitted the notice with 55 signatures, with Rajya Sabha MPs Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha and KTS Tulsi handing it over. Sibal and Tankha were among the signatories. According to Rajya Sabha sources, the secretariat found a mismatch in nine signatures on the notice compared to the signatures of the MPs as per records.

The signature of one MP, Sarfaraz Ahmed, appeared in two places, leading to the decision to verify all signatures. He is believed to have told the Rajya Sabha secretariat that had only signed once, taking the total number of signatures to 54.

Of those 54 MPs, 43 MPs had responded to emails or phone calls by the secretariat to confirm their signatures as of 5 pm on May 23, The Indian Express reported. Of the remaining 11 MPs, at least two said they had verified their signatures to the secretariat over the phone.

As per the report, Rajya Sabha sources confirmed Monday that one of those MPs, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, had verified his signature since then.

Among the MPs who had not authenticated their signatures as on 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 NR Elango.

The Rajya Sabha secretariat is learnt to have sent emails to the MPs on three occasions – March 7, March 13 and May 1 – asking them to meet the Chairman regarding the notice and bring along the authenticated copies of the relevant documents.

The MPs were asked to authenticate the copies of the “news articles, legal reports, YouTube videos etc”, which they had annexed with their notice. “These documentation may kindly be brought along with, duly authenticated,” the email message sent to the MPs in March said, adding that it is necessary since the MPs have submitted a list of news articles and links to prove that Justice Yadav had made “outrageous” remarks.

Speaking at an event organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on December 8 last year, Justice Yadav said: "I have no hesitation in saying that this is Hindustan… and the country will run according to the majority who live in Hindustan."

He had also referred to the Muslim community while backing a Uniform Civil Code and said: "You have a misconception that if a law (UCC) is brought in, it will be against your Shariyat, your Islam and your Quran… But I want to say one more thing… Whether it is your personal law, our Hindu law, your Quran or whether it is our Gita, as I said we have addressed the ills (buraaiyan) in our practices.” He said untouchability, sati, jauhar and female foeticide had been addressed. “Then why are you not doing away with… that while your first wife is there… you can have three wives… without her consent… that is not acceptable."