Two weeks after Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu rejected the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra citing "no proof of misconduct" by him as alleged by the Opposition parties, two Congress members of Parliament moved the Supreme Court on Monday against the rejection.
Pratap Singh Bajwa and Amee Harshadray Yajnik, Rajya Sabha members from the Congress, approached the Supreme Court challenging Naidu's dismissal of the impeachment motion against Misra, ANI reported.
Both the Congress MPs claimed in their petition that once the initiation of removal motion is signed by the requisite number of MPs, the Vice-President has no option but shall constitute an Inquiry Committee to investigate the allegations against the CJI Dipak Misra
— ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2018
Senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal mentioned the plea for urgent listing before Justice Chelameswar, PTI reported. Sibal said the impeachment notice was against the Chief Justice of India, hence the senior-most judge can direct for listing of the petition.
Prayer - asks for quashing the order of VP, order an enquiry under the Judges Inquiry Act, constitute a committee for making an investigation.
Read Full Prayer pic.twitter.com/JhRL4AyBfA
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) May 7, 2018
The bench, also comprising Justice SK Kaul, asked Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan to mention the matter before the chief justice of India for urgent listing, citing a Constitution bench judgment on powers of master of roster.
Representational image. AP
Sibal said he was aware of the constitution bench judgment on master of roster but since the impeachment notice concerns the CJI, the senior-most judge of the apex court can order for listing.
"I am aware of the procedure but it can't be mentioned anywhere else. A person cannot be a judge in his own cause. I am just asking for urgent listing and not seeking any interim relief," Sibal said.
In April, the Congress and six other Opposition parties moved a notice for the impeachment of CJI, accusing him of five counts of "misbehaviour" and "misusing" authority. The charges against the CJI included taking a bribe, illegally acquiring land and 'choosing to send sensitive matters to particular benches by misusing his authority '.
The Opposition parties met Naidu and handed over a notice for the impeachment of the CJI with signatures of 64 sitting MPs of the Upper House.
Naidu then held discussions with a number of constitutional and legal experts, including Attorney General KK Venugopal, and former top law officer K Parasaran. Naidu spoke to former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, ex-law secretary P K Malhotra and former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh as well about the issue, officials said. He also held deliberations with senior officials of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, they said, adding that Naidu also spoke to former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy.
These are some of the reasons Naidu rejected the notice:
-Motion undermines independence of judiciary
-No credible/verifiable facts.
-Going to press by MPs denigrated institution of CJI
-MPs are unsure of their own charges
-Some charges are internal matters to be resolved by Supreme Court itself
With inputs from PTI
Updated Date: May 07, 2018 12:16 PM
