Congress leaders claim that the timing of the motion has nothing to do with Thursday’s ruling in the CBI judge Loya death probe case.
New Delhi: Opposition parties led by the Congress Friday moved a motion of impeachment against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the first time in history that such a move has been initiated against the top judge of the apex court.
Opposition leaders said the motion had been moved because “his conduct is unbecoming of a person holding the office” of Chief Justice of India.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told a press conference that the impeachment motion had been moved on “five grounds of misbehaviour.” Azad was speaking on behalf of a group of seven opposition parties who met the Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, Venkaiah Naidu, to submit the motion.
“We sought a meeting a week ago,” Azad repeatedly stressed to clarify that the move was not prompted by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the judge Loya case Thursday.
The meeting with Naidu reportedly lasted for about 40 minutes but the merits of the impeachment motion were not discussed, it is learnt.
Azad said that 71 parliamentarians had signed the impeachment motion but at least seven have since retired since the conversation on impeachment began in November last year.
“We wish this day had never come. An independent judiciary is imperative for a democracy,” senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal said as he read out the impeachment motion.
Sibal added that although three months have passed since, critical questions raised by four senior judges of the court have not been resolved, referring to the 12 January press conference held by Justice Jasti Chelameswar and three other judges.
Although the CJI is one among equals on the judicial side, he has vast powers on the administrative side. Sibal stressed that “since Dipak Misra has been appointed CJI, several questions have been raised on how he has conducted his affairs.”
“We hope that a thorough enquiry will be held so that truth alone triumphs,” he said.
The impeachment motion lists the following five allegations against Misra:
- The facts and circumstances relating to the Prasad Educational Trust case show prima facie evidence suggesting that Chief Justice Dipak Misra may have been involved in the conspiracy of paying illegal gratification, which at least warrants a thorough investigation.
- That Chief Justice Dipak Misra dealt, on the administrative as well as judicial side, with a writ petition which sought investigation into a matter in which he too was likely to fall within the scope of investigation since he had presided over every bench which had dealt with the case and passed orders in the case of Prasad Educational Trust, and thus violated the first principle of the Code of Conduct for judges.
- That Chief Justice Dipak Misra appears to have antedated an administrative order dated 6 November 2017, which amounts to a serious act of forgery/fabrication.
- That Chief Justice Dipak Misra acquired land when he was an advocate, by giving an affidavit that was found to be false and, despite the orders of the ADM cancelling the allotment in 1985, surrendered the said land only in 2012 after he was elevated to the Supreme Court.
- That Chief Justice Dipak Misra has abused his administrative authority as master of roster to arbitrarily assign individual cases of particular advocates in politically sensitive cases to select judges in order to achieve a predetermined outcome.
More I see behavior of congress party, more appalled I get. First this party put India under emergency. Then, they got Sikhs killed in a pogrom. Then they tried to put Modi behind bars. Now after all else failed, they want to employ scare tactics on a Supreme Court chief Justice. All this actions spread over many decades indicate dictatorial tendency of the party. Do not mess with us, or else! Ironic that congress spokees sermon use this nation about value of democracy and independence of judiciary!
Dipak Mishra should be impeached because from last few months the judgement of few cases was really looked biased towards the government . Sahi ko sahi v nhi kehta h SC. Judiciary is under the command of government while it should not be. And what happened to Prasad Educational Trust case!!!
Congress Very well knows that they do not have enough numbers to impeach CJI. Idea is to create problems for the ruling party and to CJI. Now when impeachment motion gets rejected in the house, they will shout that look the party in power is supporting CJI as he is their man. It’s a plan to win in both the situations. Congress has forgotten that the same game can be played in future if Congress comes to power.
Impeachment is a political drama. Opposition has no number. It is only to threat other judges .
Vanakkam, Do unto others as you would wish to be done by others! The Law-maker should not be a Law-breaker?
Let them decide if it will happen than he will be the first and worst CJI
DIPAK Misra worst CJI ever, must be impeached immediately.
Where are the numbers ?
The CONgress party is nent ipon creating a civil war situation. Wonder where the Hell have the intellectuals are hiding hiving tje nation a rooten leader ala Rajol Gamdie.
Why a chief justice can’t lie…why his judgement is above question.. isn’t he a human after all
O.K.
Ridiculous allegations on CJI for impeachment.
What Ranjan Gogoi did is unpardonable. The other three judges were not due to be chief justice of SC, but Gogoi was and is. He could have initiated all the reforms in the SC judiciary that they talked about in the press release. It takes decades for the common man to get court rulings. This SC judge could tot wait for a few months for his turn to be Cj and initiate whatever reforms they were talking about? His actions sound political and in poor faith.
A very unfortunate development. CJI Dipak Misra is the best judge of his conduct. Just yesterday, his judgment reiterated certain verities : A judge cannot lie; what he says is the gospel truth; to question a judge is to commit contempt of court. He might wish to introspect if he has lived up to that high standard. If his conscience is clear, he should soldier on, as he did even while four brother judges were expressing their anguish to the world. Else, he should step down, save India the agony of impeachment, recommend that Justice Ranjan Gogoi succeed him.