A perusal of the said provision would make it amply clear that the opposition must mobilise at least a hundred members (Lok Sabha) or fifty members (Rajya Sabha) depending upon wherein it intends to initiate the process. Having said that, from thereon it is the discretion of the Speaker (Lok Sabha) or the Vice President (Rajya Sabha) as the case may be, to first make an assessment as to whether the motion is fit for him to constitute a committee to frame charges and conduct a prima facie appreciation of whether the complaints made against the judge in question contain any substance.



Assuming that the opposition manages to negotiate the second hurdle, the committee constituted under the provisions of the said Act has to come to a conclusion that the charges framed by it are substantial at the conclusion of a proper process of quasi-judicial inquiry and fact-finding. In such a scenario, the motion for removal has to go before both the Houses of Parliament where it has to be passed by a majority of the members of both Houses and a two-third majority of the members present and voting. In the unlikely scenario that the motion contemplated by the opposition is approved by the committee, it shall surely be defeated on the floor of the House.



There are only about six more months left in the tenure of the present Chief Justice of India and there is always the likelihood that the motion might end up being rendered infructuous before the same reaches any conclusion whatsoever. The next question to be asked is, whether any political benefit is likely to accrue to the opposition if they were to take this step irrespective of the chances of its success. The answer to this question too, unfortunately for the opposition, is in the negative.



The biggest case that is being heard before the Chief Justice of India today is related to the Ram Janma bhoomi issue. Despite the protestations of the Congress party to the contrary, the presence of Kapil Sibal as an arguing counsel for the Sunni Waqf Board has given rise to an impression in the minds of the public that the Congress does not want the Ram Temple to be built on the disputed site at all. If they do give in to the ‘secular’ fringe of their party and end up supporting the electorally bankrupt Left, it will also have serious detrimental implications for the newly minted ‘Hindu’ avatar of their leader, Rahul Gandhi.



Hence, leaders of India’s grand old party should ask themselves if they are willing to follow the lead of a party that has stopped using electoral victories as a measure of its success, for it has not notched up any significant ones in recent years.