Supreme Court Defends ‘Impeachment’ as Not the Only Mechanism for Judge Misconduct

• The Supreme Court ruled that ‘impeachment’ by Parliament is not the only formal mechanism for removing judges from office for misconduct.

• The court interpreted Section 3(2) of the Judges (Protection) Act to provide legal sanction to the in-house inquiry procedure and empower the Chief Justice of India with legal authority over High Court judges facing serious allegations of misconduct.

• The in-house procedure was deemed to address the growing concern of incidents of judicial misconduct.

• The court noted that not all judicial misconduct might necessarily rise to the level of “proved misbehaviour”, attracting an “impeachment” motion under Articles 217 and 218 of the Constitution.

• The in-house procedure fills the “yawning gap” between mere bad conduct and “proved misbehaviour”, acting as a check on judges’ unbridled freedom of action.

• The court warned that judges should dispel the thought that they could be removed only by way of “impeachment”, which has never fructified over the years despite occasions calling for it.