56 Former Judges Condemn Impeachment Move Against Justice GR Swaminathan, Call It Attempt To Browbeat Judiciary

Fifty-six former judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts have issued a strong statement expressing “serious exception” to the move by opposition Members of Parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against Madras High Court judge Justice G.R. Swaminathan. The former judges have termed the attempt a “brazen effort to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society.”The statement, released on December 12, warns that permitting such a motion to proceed would “cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary.”The former judges stress that even if the reasons cited by the MPs are taken at face value, they are “wholly inadequate” to justify invoking the extraordinary constitutional mechanism of impeachment. They reiterate that impeachment is meant to safeguard judicial integrity, not to be misused as a political weapon.The impeachment motion was moved in the backdrop of Justice GR Swaminathan passing an order permitting temple devotees to light a lamp at a stone pillar atop the Thirupparankundram hill near a dargah, and later reprimanding the State Government for obstructing the implementation of the order.The former judges, in their statement, said that the impeachment move was not "an isolated aberration." They recalled the 2018 attempt to impeach then Chief Justice Dipak Misra and public campaigns targeting Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, and presently CJI Surya Kant.The former judges also draw parallels to historical attempts to pressure the judiciary, including supersessions after the Kesavananda Bharati ruling and the sidelining of Justice H.R. Khanna after his famous dissent in ADM Jabalpur. These, they say, stand as reminders that political interference can severely damage an independent judiciary.The signatories warn against converting impeachment into a tool of intimidation, stating that wielding the threat of removal to compel judicial conformity is “anti-democratic, anti-constitutional, and an anathema to the rule of law.” They call the attempt to impeach a sitting High Court judge for performing judicial functions part of a continuing assault on judicial dignity and independence.Urging Members of Parliament across political lines, the Bar, civil society and the public to “denounce this move,” the statement asserts that judges are accountable only to their oath and the Constitution. Dissatisfaction with judicial decisions, they state, must be addressed through appeals and legal reasoning, not by using impeachment as political retaliation.Also read - Impeachment Motion And Judicial IndependenceList of SignatoriesJustice Adarsh Goel, Former Supreme Court JudgeJustice Hemant Gupta, Former Supreme Court JudgeJustice Anil Deo Singh, Former Chief Justice, Rajasthan High CourtJustice Narsimha Reddy, Former Chief Justice, Patna High CourtJustice P. B. Bajanthri, Former Chief Justice, Patna High CourtJustice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, Former Chief Justice, Karnataka High CourtJustice Permod Kohli, Former Chief Justice, Sikkim High Court and Chairman, CATJustice S. M. Soni, Former Judge, Gujarat High Court and Lokayukt, GujaratJustice Vishnu S. Kokje, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan High CourtJustice Ambadas Joshi, Former Judge, Bombay High Court and Lokayukt, GoaJustice R. Subramanian, Former Judge, Madras High CourtJustice Sivagnanam, Former Judge, Madras High CourtJustice T. Sudanthiram, Former Judge, Madras High CourtJustice S. N. Dhingra, Former Judge, Delhi High CourtJustice R. K. Gauba, Former Judge, Delhi High CourtJustice Vinod Goel, Former Judge, Delhi High CourtJustice J. R. C. Chopra, Former Judge, Delhi High CourtJustice Vidya Bhushan Gupta, Former Judge, Delhi High CourtJustice Ramesh Kumar Merathia, Former Judge, Jharkhand High CourtJustice Nawal Kishore Agarwal, Former Judge, Jharkhand High CourtJustice Karam Chand Puri, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High CourtJustice Jasbir Singh, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High CourtJustice H. S. Bhalla, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High CourtJustice S. N. Agarwal, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High CourtJustice Darshan Singh, Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High CourtJustice R. S. Rathore, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court and Member, NGTJustice Prashant Kr. Agarwal, Former Judge, Rajasthan High CourtJustice Rakesh Saksena, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High CourtJustice K. K. Trivedi, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High CourtJustice H. P. Singh, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High CourtJustice D. K. Paliwal, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High CourtJustice Sushil Kr. Gupta, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High CourtJustice Dr. Siva Sankara Rao, Former Judge, Telangana High CourtJustice Kamleshwar Nath, Former Judge, Allahabad High CourtJustice D. K. Seth, Former Judge, Allahabad and Calcutta High CourtsJustice Rajes Kumar, Former Judge, Allahabad High CourtJustice Surendra Vikram Singh Rathore,...

56 Former Judges Condemn Impeachment Move Against Justice GR Swaminathan, Call It Attempt To Browbeat Judiciary

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