NO TIME FRAME TO FINISH IMPEACHMENT PROCESS
The Constitution has specified phase-wise procedure for impeachment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and the same procedure is also applicable to impeach the Chief Justice of India.
According to legal experts, Article 124(4) is the guideline for impeachment of judges, but it has not prescribed any time frame to complete the impeachment.
The Constitution, armed with the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 and the Judges (Inquiry) Rules, 1969 provides for the entire process of Impeachment.
ARTICLE 124(4) of the Constitution stipulates that, “A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.'
PHASE-WISE PROCEDURE
A notice of motion is issued by 100 MPs from the Lok Sabha or 50 MPs from the Rajya Sabha. This is then looked into by the Speaker/Chairman. If the motion is admitted, the Speaker/Chairman of the House forms a 3-member panel comprising a senior judge of the Supreme Court, a judge of the High Court and a distinguished jurist to investigate the charges. This committee would look into the alleged charges levelled against the judge. In the event that the committee recommends that the judge be impeached, it is taken up for discussion in the House, where it had been introduced and must be passed by a special majority - which means it has to be supported by a majority of the total membership of that House not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting. Once it is passed, it is taken up in the next House where again it needs to be passed by a special majority. After the motion is passed through both the Houses with two-third majority, the President of India is approached to remove the Chief Justice of India.
JUDGES WHO FACED IMPEACHMENT
Justice V. Ramaswami has the dubious distinction of being the first judge against whom impeachment proceedings were initiated. In 1993, the motion was brought up in the Lok Sabha, but it failed to secure the required two-thirds majority.
Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court resigned ahead of the impeachment motion against him in the Lok Sabha in September 2011.
Justice P.D. Dinakaran, Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court resigned in July 2011, before impeachment proceedings could be initiated against him. A judicial panel was set up to look into allegations of corruption against him.
In 2015, a group of 58 Rajya Sabha MPs moved an impeachment notice against Justice J.B. Pardiwala of the Gujarat High Court for his "objectionable remarks on the issue of reservation." Hours after the impeachment notice was sent to Hamid Ansari, the judge removed the wording from his judgment.