Ahmedabad

Even as the 58 Rajya Sabha members demanded impeachment of Gujarat High Court Judge Justice J B Pardiwala for his recent alleged objectionable remarks on reservation system in India, the beleaguered judge today removed the observation from his order.

Justice Pardiwala removed his observations from the record while hearing a petition of the state government demanding its deletion and correction of the order.

Justice Pardiwala while refusing to remove the sedition charges against Patel reservation quota stir leader Hardik Patel had in his recent order said, ‘If I am asked by any one to name two things, which has destroyed this country or rather, has not allowed the country, to progress in the right direction, then the same is, (i) Reservation and (ii) Corruption. It is very shameful for any citizen of this country to ask for reservation after 65 years of independence. When our Constitution was framed, it was understood that the reservation would remain for a period of 10 years, but unfortunately, it has continued even after 65 years of independence. The biggest threats, today, for the country is corruption. The countrymen should rise and fight against corruption at all levels, rather than shedding blood and indulging in violence for the reservation. The reservation has only played the role of an amoeboid monster sowing seeds of discord amongst the people. The importance of merit, in any society, cannot be understated. The merit stands for a positive goal and when looked at instrumentally, stands for “rewarding those actions that are considered good”. Then, this instrumental nature of merit that should be given importance – emphasizing on and rewarding merit is a means towards achieving what is regarded as good in the society. The parody of the situation is that India must be the only country wherein some of the citizens crave to be called backward.’

These remarks have been removed.

– DeshGujarat

PTI version: HC Judge expunges remarks against reservation after impeachment petition

Facing the possibility of an impeachment motion against him, Gujarat High Court judge justice J B Pardiwala today expunged the remarks he had made against reservation in Hardik Patel case order on an application by the state government seeking removal of the controversial portion.

Justice Pardiwala expunged paragraph number 62 from his order delivered in the case of quota agitation leader Hardik Patel’s seeking quashing the plea of sedition charge against him filed by the Ahmedabad police.

The state government today approached the high court requesting the judge to expunge his remarks against reservation saying that it has no relation with the case and that is why paragraph number 62 should be deleted from the order.

Lawyer of Hardik Patel also did not object to removal of those remarks.

The expunging of remarks from the order comes after 58 Rajya Sabha MPs today moved a petition before the Chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari against Justice Pardiwala for his allegedly “unconstitutional” remarks against reservation.

The MPs said in the notice that a ten-year limit was prescribed for political reservations i.e. representation to SCs and STs in the union and state legislatures, and not the reservation in the areas of education and employment.

“It is distressing that Justice J B Pardiwala should be unaware of the constitutional provision with respect to the policy for the SCs and the STs,” the notice given to Ansari said.

The petition by MPs said since the observations of the judge find place in judicial proceedings, “these are unconstitutional in nature and amount to behaviour misconduct towards the Constitution of India that forms the ground for an impeachment”.