CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has urged President Ram Nath Kovind to sack Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal on charge of violating his oath and disregarding the Constitution by commenting that the inclusion of secular and socialist in the Preamble of the Constitution has narrowed the country's spiritual image.
In a letter to the President, Yechury said Justice Mithal committed "serious misconduct" and that he was bringing to his notice a "very serious complaint" against the judge, who had "violated his oath and compromised the Constitutional Office held by him".
Yechury was referring to Justice Mithal's remarks at a programme organised by Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, which is affiliated to the RSS, in Jammu on December 5 during which he said, "inclusion of the terms secular and socialist in the Preamble of the Constitution had narrowed India’s spiritual image...Sometimes, we bring amendments due to our adamancy."
"Utterances against the country’s Constitution by a High Court Chief Justice, that too from a platform which preaches a particular ideology, is an unpardonable offence, which is in violation of the oath taken by him to carry out his constitutional functions," he said.
"Mithal's conduct unbecoming of the Constitutional office of the Chief Justice that he is holding warrants his immediate removal from the said office. As the custodian of the Constitution, as the head of the State and as the appointing authority of Mithal, I request your good self to immediately set in motion the process for his removal from office to uphold the sanctity of the Constitution and independence of judiciary," he added.
Watch the latest DH Videos here: