Congress petitions VP for impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra
- by Andrea Singleton
- in Global
- — Apr 22, 2018
What the Opposition can say in its defence is that so far, the Chief Justice has not addressed the concerns that drove his four senior-most brother judges to make a public complaint about the conduct of the court. We are not accusing the CJI of corruption but only misuse of office. All past impeachment procedures involved judges of the lower courts. An impeachment motion can be instituted in either house of the Parliament. Only after gaining a two-thirds majority in both the Houses will the motion finally get passed to the President of India.
It seems like The Aam Aadmi Party is among those who have backed out from supporting the move. "It will be defeated, and if that happens it will be a joke".
"If I would have been a member of parliament and had I been given this paper to sign, I would not have signed the impeachment motion", he added. "It is unfortunate and shameful that the Congress along with other political parties are attacking the judiciary without any substance and evidence", he said.
Justice Reddy said that the impeachment move had a definite political coating and it can't be otherwise.
The third charge in the motion said Justice Misra "appears to have" antedated an administrative order dated November 6, 2017, which amounted to a serious act of forgery/fabrication. "According to the Constitution, a minimum of 50 members are required to agree to the motion", Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said in a press conference on Friday noon.
" We wish this day had never come in the fabric of our constitutional framework".
The notice submitted to Naidu argues that lawmakers are entitled to hold the Chief Justice accountable for his actions and that the majesty of the law is more important than the majesty of any office.
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Sixty-four Rajya Sabha MPs from seven opposition parties, led by the Congress, signed impeachment motion against Dipak Misra for what they said "five listed grounds of misbehaviour".
Kashyap said that Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu could reject the impeachment notice at his own level if he felt it had no material legs to stand on.
"We are very much sure that the Chairman will take action". The division has come out in the open over the impeachment issue. He also resigned before the impeachment process could take place.
As the opposition party is losing political ground, it has resorted to such pressure tactics motivated by "malice", Lekhi said. At this juncture it is not clear whether motion will be accepted by Vice President.
While the Loya case could be considered as the triggering point, Justice Misra's appointment has irked a section of the judicial and political class since his appointment past year. The charges read out are issues those which have been settled by judicial orders or by precedent. "Some issues are stale, trivial and have nothing to do with judicial functions".
"Since the day he (Justice Dipak Misra) was appointed as CJI there have been questions raised in the manner in which he has dealt with certain cases", said Congress veteran Kapil Sibal, emphasising on the Judge Loya case verdict yesterday, where the petitions seeking inquiry into his death were brushed aside being called as "frivolous".
"We are all very disturbed about it", a bench comprising justice AK Sikri and justice Ashok Bhushan said.
