CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking the removal of the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, Pankaj Mithal, for saying that inclusion of the terms secular and socialist in the Preamble of the Constitution had “narrowed” India’s spiritual image.Justice Mithal, said Yechury, has violated the oath and also compromised the constitutional office held by him with such utterances.In the letter, Yechury said the media has widely reported that Justice Mithal addressed a seminar organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad where he said “inclusion of the terms secular and socialist in the Preamble of the Constitution had narrowed India’s spiritual image”. Justice Mithal, he said, is further reported to have said that “sometimes, we bring amendments due to our adamancy”.Stating that the December 5 programme was held by an organisation affiliated to the RSS, “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. His conduct unbecoming of the constitutional office of the Chief Justice that he is holding warrants his immediate removal from the said office,” he said.“As the custodian of the Constitution, as the head of the State and as the appointing authority of (Justice) 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.
