Led by DMK, Oppn submit notice to LS Speaker for moving motion to remove Madras HC judge

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, on Tuesday submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of Madras High Court Judge G R Swaminathan whose order directing Subramaniya Swamy temple authorities to ensure that a lamp is lit at the deepathoon (pillar) in Madurai district sparked a row.

On December 1, a single-judge bench of Justice Swaminathan had held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the deepathoon. The stone lamp pillar is located on the Thiruparankundram hillock near a dargah.

The bench said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community. When the order remained unimplemented, the single judge passed another order on December 3 permitting devotees themselves to light the lamp and directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to ensure their protection. This led the DMK-led state government to move to the top court.

DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi, party's leader in the Lok Sabha MP T R Baalu, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, among others, handed the notice with over 100 signatures of parliamentarians for moving a motion for the removal of the judge.

The notice alleged that the conduct of Justice Swaminathan raises serious questions regarding impartiality, transparency, and the secular functioning of the judiciary.

It also alleged that Justice Swaminathan showed "undue favoritism" to Senior Advocate M Sricharan Ranganathan and favoured advocates from a particular community while deciding the cases.

Deciding cases on the basis of particular political ideology is against the secular principles of the Indian Constitution, it added.

The issue of lighting of the traditional lamp at the hilltop temple near Madurai rocked the Lok Sabha last Friday, with Baalu accusing the BJP of trying to "ignite" communal tensions in Tamil Nadu and Union minister L Murugan hitting back at the Tamil Nadu government for "denying the right to worship".

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider hearing a plea of the Tamil Nadu government challenging the Madras High Court order.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court last Thursday dismissed an intra-court appeal filed by the Madurai district collector and the city police commissioner, upholding a single-judge order that allowed devotees to light the lamp.

A notice for the removal of a judge has to be signed by not less than 100 members in the Lok Sabha and 50 in the Rajya Sabha. The motion can either be accepted or rejected by the Speaker or the Chairman.

According to the Judges (Inquiry) Act, when notice of a motion is submitted and accepted, a committee to examine the charges levelled against the judge will be constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The inquiry report will be tabled in Parliament, followed by a discussion in both Houses, after which there will be voting on the motion for the removal of the judge. PTI ASK ASK AMJ AMJ