CJI impeachment: Congress to move Top Court against Naidu’s order
NEW DELHI : Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra’s impeachment motion being rejected by Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu set off another political storm, with the Congress, which spearheaded the impeachment notice, saying it would challenge the “illegal” order in the Supreme Court.
Former Law Minister and Congress leader Kapil Sibal termed Naidu’s rejection of the impeachment notice as illegal and unconstitutional, adding that it was done in a “tearing hurry”.
67Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters that Naidu’s order jeopardised the country’s legal system and said the government was not keen to see a probe into the case. “The order is unprecedented, illegal, ill-advised and hasty,” Sibal said, adding that it had been passed without a full-fledged inquiry.
“We will certainly move a petition in the Supreme Court to challenge this order,” Sibal said. “The Congress leader stressed that never before in India’s history had a motion moved by MPs been dismissed at the preliminary stage. “The order shattered the confidence of the people and jeopardised the legal system,” he added.
Meanwhile,Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said his decision to reject the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was “timely and not a hasty one” and came after over a month of due diligence. Mr. Naidu told this to the Supreme Court lawyers who thanked him for “saving the dignity of the office of Chief Justice of India and the apex court”.
Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office is not merely a post office, its constitutional authority and the decision to dismiss the impeachment motion by the Opposition was timely and not taken in haste, Mr. Naidu told the lawyers.
Mr. Naidu told this to the Supreme Court lawyers who thanked him for “saving the dignity of the office of Chief Justice of India and the apex court”.Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office is not merely a post office, its consti tutional authority and the decision to dismiss the impeachment motion by the Opposition was timely and not taken in haste, Mr. Naidu told the lawyers.
Dismissing the impeachment petition, Mr. Naidu on Monday said the Opposition was “unsure” of their own case. The Congress, which initiated the petition, termed the Vice President’s decision as “ill-advised and hasty”.
According to senior Rajya Sabha secretariat officials Mr. Naidu told the lawyers that he took the decision after over a month of “due diligence and in strict conformity with the provisions of the Constitution and the Judges Inquiry Act of 1968”.
The Supreme Court lawyers led by Barun Kumar Sinha among others congratulated him and thanked him for “saving the dignity of the office of Chief Justice of India and the apex court.”
This is not the first case where an impeachment motion has been shot down by the Chair. A similar motion was moved against Supreme Court Judge J.C.Shah and was rejected by the then Lok Sabha Speaker G S Dhillon. Justice Shah later becoming the Chief Justice of India.
“Chief Justice of India is the highest judicial functionary of the country and any issue in public domain concerning him requires to be resolved at the earliest following prescribed procedures so as to prevent the atmosphere from being further vitiated,” Mr. Naidu said.
(With Agency Inputs ).
