The minister said the process has to be followed, but how to “integrate the inquiry already conducted” needs to be decided.”As per the rule, a committee has to be constituted and then the committee has to submit a report and the report will be tabled in the House, and discussions will start to impeach. Here, a committee has already been constituted, not by Parliament. But it cannot be brushed aside” as it was constituted by the CJI, he said.Responding to questions that a committee has to be mandatorily formed under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, Rijiju said the speaker will take a decision in this regard.He said reconciling the report of the in-house panel and the one under law is a “secondary matter”.The primary objective is to bring the impeachment motion. Monsoon session begins July 21 and ends August 12.A fire incident at Justice Varma’s residence in the national capital in March, when he was a judge at the Delhi High Court, had led to the discovery of several burnt sacks of cash at the outhouse.Though the judge claimed ignorance about the cash, the Supreme Court-appointed committee indicted him after speaking to a number of witnesses and recording his statement.The apex court has since transferred him to his parent high court, the Allahabad High Court, where he has not been assigned any judicial work.Supreme Court judge V Ramaswami and Calcutta HC judge Soumitra Sen had earlier faced impeachment proceedings but they resigned.Justice Varma’s removal proceedings will be taken up in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament.This will be the first ever impeachment proceeding to be taken up in the new Parliament building.
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