Parliamentary panel to discuss judges' code of conduct

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel is set to discuss the code of conduct for judges in the higher judiciary, even as the government is poised to move an impeachment motion against former Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.

The judge is under scrutiny over the recovery of unaccounted for cash from his national capital residence.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, in a meeting on Tuesday, will discuss the issue and will also deliberate on the post-retirement assignments of judges.

"The Committee will hear the Secretary, Department of Justice on the subject 'Judicial processes and their reform' concerning issues of Code of Conduct for the judges of higher judiciary and taking up post-retirement assignments by judges," a notice sent by the committee secretariat informed members of the panel.

The Committee of the Rajya Sabha is headed by BJP MP Brij Lal and has former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who is a nominated MP, former minister of state for law P P Chaudhary, TMC MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Kalyan Banerjee, Congress's Vivek Tankha, and DMK's P Wilson and A Raja as its key members.

While Justice Varma is likely to be impeached, the Opposition has already given a notice for the same action against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Yadav.

After the cash recovery, Justice Varma was repatriated to his parent court, the Allahabad High Court. He has denied the charges against him.

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat is also verifying the signatures of the MPs who signed the impeachment notice against Justice Yadav for an alleged hate speech he gave.

The secretariat has already written to the MPs to confirm their signatures.