CJI Gogoi Writes To PM Modi To Initiate Impeachment Motion In Parliament Against Allahabad HC Judge S N Shukla

The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to initiate a motion for removal of Allahabad High Court’s Justice SN Shukla, who was found guilty of misconduct by an in-house panel, reports Indian Express.

Justice Shukla, who became the judge of Allahabad High Court in October 2005, has a term up to July 2020.

“As the allegations against Justice Shukla were found by the committee to be so serious as to warrant the initiation of proceedings for his removal, he cannot be allowed to resume judicial work in any high court. In these circumstances, you are requested to consider further action,” Gogoi wrote to PM Modi.

Gogoi wrote the letter to the PM after declining a request from Shukla for re-allocation of judicial work, which was withdrawn from him in January 2018.

According to the report, a three-judge in-house panel in January 2018 had concluded that there was sufficient substance in the allegations against Justice Shukla and that the aberrations were serious enough to call for initiation of proceedings for his removal.

The allegation against Shukla was that he permitted a private medical college admit students for academic year 2017-18, despite orders against it by the Medical Council of India and the Supreme Court.

After the report of the panel, the then CJI Dipak Misra had advised Justice Shukla to either resign or seek voluntary retirement but the latter refused to do so. Following this, Misra had asked the Allahabad High Court’s Chief Justice to withdraw judicial work from Shukla with immediate effect.