Speaker Birla to announce inquiry committee to probe charges against Justice Varma: Sources

New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) Amid hectic parleys involving senior ministers and the two Houses of Parliament, official sources said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is likely to announce the formation of an inquiry committee to probe the ground of charges against Allahabad High Court Judge Yashwant Varma.

The sources said the notice signed by 152 MPs submitted to Birla on July 21 is now a "property of the House", and that consultation has begun 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.

Since a similar notice signed by 63 opposition MPs was submitted to then Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on the same day, the Upper House is also part of the consultation process.

As part of the process, the Chair is expected to write to the CJI, seeking his recommendation of the two judges, while the choice of the distinguished jurist is his prerogative.

Since the notices were submitted, Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha J P Nadda, Speaker Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who is now in charge after Dhankhar's resignation, have been part of deliberations over the future course of action.

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.

In a dramatic turn of events, he resigned later in the evening to "prioritise health care" amid clear indications 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 moved in the Lok Sabha.

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 KR NAB KR KVK KVK