UPSC CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

UPSC Prelims 2019— Question 86

2019General Studies Paper-IPolity & GovernanceJudiciarySupreme Courtmoderate
Q86

Question

Consider the following statement: 1. The motion to impeach a Judge of the Supreme Court of India cannot be rejected by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha as per the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 2. The Constitution of India defines and gives details of what constitutes ‘incapacity and proved misbehaviour’ of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India. 3. The details of the process of impeachment of the Judges of the Supreme Court of India are given in the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 4. If the motion for the impeachment of a Judge is taken up for voting, backed by each House of the Parliament and supported by a majority of total membership of that House and by not less than two-thirds of total members of that House present and voting. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Options

A
1 and 2
B
3 only
C
3 and 4 only✓ Correct Answer
D
1, 3 and 4
AnswerOption C

Explanation

This question tests the concept of Impeachment of Supreme Court Judges. The key principle is that The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 lays down the detailed statutory procedure for investigating allegations and handling the removal process. The Speaker has procedural discretion regarding admission of a motion, and the Constitution itself does not define 'incapacity and proved misbehaviour' in detailed statutory terms. The required parliamentary voting threshold is constitutionally specified. The correct answer marked for this question is option C. The distinction matters because UPSC often combines a familiar factual statement with one carefully qualified or overly broad statement. A reliable way to solve such questions is to identify the governing concept first and then test every statement against its precise wording rather than relying on general familiarity. Because the question asks for the statement or option that is not correct, the task is to identify the choice that conflicts with the established position; the other choices must be assessed as plausible or correct within the wording of the question. Option A — 1 and 2: This is not the correct choice. It either excludes a statement that must be included, includes a statement that is inaccurate, or identifies a different institution, process, location, technology or historical development from the one tested. Its wording should therefore be rejected when checked against the core principle described above. Option B — 3 only: This is not the correct choice. It either excludes a statement that must be included, includes a statement that is inaccurate, or identifies a different institution, process, location, technology or historical development from the one tested. Its wording should therefore be rejected when checked against the core principle described above. Option C — 3 and 4 only: This is the correct choice. It is consistent with the governing fact or with the valid combination identified above. The important point is not merely that the wording appears familiar, but that it matches the specific scope of the question and does not add an unsupported condition. Option D — 1, 3 and 4: This is not the correct choice. It either excludes a statement that must be included, includes a statement that is inaccurate, or identifies a different institution, process, location, technology or historical development from the one tested. Its wording should therefore be rejected when checked against the core principle described above. In exam terms, the safest approach is to break the question into its smallest factual units. Where statements are combined, verify each statement independently and then compare the resulting combination with the four codes. Where the question asks for a single institution, event, technology or location, distinguish the exact term from closely related alternatives. This prevents elimination based only on familiarity and is especially useful in UPSC questions where one small qualifier can change the correctness of an otherwise plausible statement. Thus, after checking the individual propositions and the scope of the alternatives, option C is the answer.

Question Classification

SubjectPolity & Governance
TopicJudiciary
SubtopicSupreme Court
Question TypeStatement-based MCQ
Difficultymoderate
VerificationVerified