Impeachment of the President (Art. 61)

 

The President can be removed from his office before the expiry of his term by the process of impeachment. He/she can be impeached only for the violation of the Constitution. The power of impeachment is vested in the Parliament. It is a quasi-judicial procedure.

Impeachment procedure in sequence:

1)      The impeachment procedure can be initiated in either House of the Parliament.

2)      The charge must come in the form of a proposal contained in a resolution which must be signed by at least one-fourth of the total membership of the House.

3)      Before the resolution could be passed, a fourteen day notice must be given to the President.

4)      Such a resolution must be passed by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the House.

5)      Then the other House of Parliament called the investigating House, investigates the charge by itself or cause the charge to be investigated .

6)      The President has the right to appear and to be represented at such investigation to defend himself.

7)      If, as a result of the investigation, the other House also passes a resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the House, declaring that the charge preferred against the President has been sustained, the President stands removed from his office from the date on which the investigating House passed the resolution.

The process of impeaching the President is deficient on the following counts :

1)      The term 'violation of the Constitution' is a very vague term and has not been defined anywhere in the Constitution.

2)      The elected members of the legislative assemblies of the States have no role to play in the impeachment proceedings, while they elect the President.

3)      The nominated members of Parliament have the right to deliberate and vote when the resolution of impeachment is under consideration while they have no vote in the election of the President.

4)      The procedure and the authority to investigate the charges against the President has not been specified nor has any definite time period been specified.