Sixty-four members of the Rajya Sabha from seven opposition parties had submitted the motion to Naidu three days ago, the first ever against a CJI.
New Delhi: Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu Monday rejected the impeachment motion moved by the opposition against Chief justice of India Dipak Misra, saying it was “neither legal nor desirable or proper” to admit it.
Constitutionally, there is an obligation on MPs to “prove” the subject’s misbehaviour before the parliamentary procedure can come into play, Naidu said, quoting from previous verdicts of the apex court.
Phrases in the motion indicate “a mere suspicion, conjecture or an assumption, and do not constitute proof of misbehavior”, he added.
In the 10-page rejection order, the VP said he was “of the firm opinion that the motion does not deserve to be admitted”.
Referring to the opposition’s charge that the CJI had misused his powers as the master of roster to allot cases, the VP said this was “clearly an internal matter to be resolved by the Supreme Court itself”.
Sixty-four members of the Rajya Sabha from seven opposition parties had submitted the motion to Naidu three days ago, the first ever against a CJI. Senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who read out the impeachment motion, cited five instances of alleged misbehaviour as grounds to seek the CJI’s removal. The opposition alleged “his conduct is unbecoming of a person holding the office” of Chief Justice of India.
Sources told ThePrint that the Congress and other opposition parties were evaluating the VP’s reasons for rejecting the motion. “One of the remedies against any erroneously passed order is to approach the court and ask for it to be struck down,” a source privy to the developments said, indicating that the opposition is likely to move court.
Naidu had consulted legal experts over the weekend to decide if the motion was “genuine” or “politically motivated”.
According to sources, he consulted attorney general K.K. Venugopal, former Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, former attorney general K. Parasaran, former Rajya Sabha secretary general V.K. Agnihotri, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, former law secretary P.K. Malhotra, and former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh, besides senior officials of the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
“I have also gone through the comments made by a former attorney general, constitutional experts and editors of prominent newspapers, which are unequivocal and nearly unanimous that the present notice of motion before me is not a fit case for removal of a judge,” Naidu said.
“Allegations emerging from the present case have a serious tendency of undermining the independence of the judiciary which is the basic tenet of the Constitution of India,” he said.