New Delhi: Four AAP MPs have initiated a campaign for impeachment of controversial Karnataka High Court judge K L Manjunath for "proven misbehaviour".
The MPs led by Dharam Vir Gandhi have taken the lead and plan to enlist 100 signatures so as to address to the President under Article 217 read with Article 124 (4) of the Constitution for his removal.
Gandhi claimed the campaign will gain momentum during the Winter Session of Parliament.
"We have been advised by the party chief to sign on this," said AAP MP from Fategarh Sahib Harinder Singh Khalsa.
Bhagwant Mann, another party MP from Sangrur, said AAP will approach other parties to enlist their support.
"Judiciary is the third pillar of democracy, so we want this pillar free from corruption," he said.
The move has come two months after the central government sent back the Supreme Court collegium's recommendation to transfer Manjunath to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Among the charges that the MPs have levelled against Justice Manjunath are possession of "wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income", hearing and deciding a petition in favour of a housing society in which his daughter owned a plot, and failing to declare his assets in violation of the Full Court Resolution of 1997.
Two previous attempts by Parliament to impeach sitting members of higher judiciary - Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen (now retired) and Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court P D Dinakaran (now retired) - could not be taken to their logical conclusion after both resigned from their respective posts.
