NEW DELHI: Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday resigned as Vice President citing health reasons and said that he made the decision to “prioritise health care” and act on “medical advice.”The announcement came just hours after Dhankhar, who also served as Rajya Sabha chairman, addressed the House and raised several serious issues, including the impeachment motion against a high court judge Yashwant Varma and an incident involving unclaimed cash found under a seat in the House.In a detailed statement, Dhankhar informed the members that he had received a motion for the removal of a high court judge Yashwant varma under Article 217(1)(b) read with Article 218 of the Constitution and Section 3 of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. “It is signed by more than 50 members of the Council of States and thus it meets the numerical requirement,” he said.

Explaining the technical procedure involved in such cases, Dhankhar pointed out the constitutional requirement of whether such motions are presented in one or both Houses of Parliament on the same day. “If the motion is presented in the two houses on different dates, then the motion which is presented in the house first that alone is taken into consideration and the second motion gets nonjurisdictional,” he said. He directed the Secretary-General to verify if a similar motion had been moved in the Lok Sabha. The Law Minister, present in the House, confirmed that over 100 members had submitted such a motion there as well.Dhankhar also referred to an earlier motion from December concerning a another judge of the Allahabad high court Shekhar Yadav, PTI reported. He said the motion was initially signed by 55 members, but a scrutiny revealed that one MP had signed twice, bringing the total valid count down to 54. “The result was that the representation, the motion indicated there are 55 members seeking removal. But actually it was not 55, it was only 54,” he noted. He said the process for verifying signatures and authentication is still ongoing.He added that one MP, whose signature appeared twice, denied having signed the motion more than once. “If a motion carries two signatures of the same member and the honorable member declines that he has not signed at two places but he has signed only at one place, the matter becomes serious and culpable,” Dhankhar said, while stressing the need for Parliament to uphold transparency and integrity. “This August House has to set very high standards. If we do not live up to the highest expectations of the people, then we’ll be putting things under the carpet and not subjecting them to deep investigation,” he said.In a startling revelation, Dhankhar said that “on seat number 222 a bundle of rupees 500 notes was found.” He added, “What is more surprising and deeply concerning is not that a pad of notes was found but no one has owned it. No one has claimed it. This is quite serious.” He said the matter would be referred to floor leaders for further discussion and direction.Reacting to Dhankhar’s resignation, senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said, “I wish him the best of health, because I am saddened, because I have a very good relationship with him. I have known him for 30-40 years. We were paired with each other. We have appeared against each other in matters. We have a bonhomie between us that is quite unique. I always respected him, and he always respected me. He has been to some family occasions of ours, and I am saddened and I hope that he is healthy and has a long, long life, and I wish him well. We may have had differences, in respect to our political views, or on opinions, but at a personal level, we had a very strong bond. Whenever I needed time to speak in the House, I met him personally in his chamber, and he never refused me, and gave me a little more time than is otherwise available to independent members of Parliament.”