led by the Congress, seven Opposition parties on Friday initiated the process for the impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, accusing him of “misbehaviour” and “misuse” of authority.
levelling five specific allegations against the CJI, leaders of the seven Opposition parties met Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and handed over the notice of impeachment bearing signatures of 71 MPs and seven former MPs, who recently retired. Naidu is likely to seek legal opinion before accepting or rejecting it.
This is the first time that a notice of impeachment against a sitting CJI has been moved, even though there have been cases of impeachment motions against High Court judges.
If the motion is admitted, the law provides for constitution of a three-member committee comprising a Supreme Court judge, Chief Justice of a High Court and a distinguished jurist to look into the complaint.
The notice for impeachment comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected a bunch of petitions seeking an independent investigation into the death of Judge BH loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
Sibal said the allegations against the CJI cannot be ignored and if the notice for the impeachment motion is accepted “then as per convention, he has to refrain from discharging his judicial functions”.
leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “We have moved a motion for removal of Chief Justice of India under five grounds of misbehaviour.
The MPs who signed the notice belong to the Congress, the NCP, the CPI(M), the CPI, the SP, the BSP and the Indian Union Muslim league (IUMl). The leaders of these parties earlier met in Parliament and gave final shape to the notice for impeachment. The Trinamool Congress and the DMK, besides the RJD and some other parties, have backed out from supporting the move.
The idea for the impeachment motion was first proposed by the left parties days after four topmost judges of the Supreme Court went public with the allegation that the Chief Justice was abusing his position as “master of the roster” and sensitive cases were being allocated to junior judges.
But the move has divided not just the Opposition ranks but also the Congress. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reportedly against the impeachment motion. Singh has not signed the proposal.
The Opposition parties at a hurriedly called Press conference announced and cited reasons for the impeachment motion. “We wish this day had never come,” said Congress senior leader Kapil Sibal, reading out the Opposition statement.
“When the judges of the Supreme Court themselves believe that the judiciary’s independence is under threat and democracy is in peril, alluding to the functioning of the office of the Chief Justice of India, should the nation stand still and do nothingIJ...The choice was not easy because either way, repercussions are serious,” he said.
The Congress alleged that recent communications of two senior judges to the Chief Justice reveal that the Chief Justice has not asserted the independence of the judiciary in the face of interference by the executive.
The grand old party also alleged that the CJI’s behaviour in the Prasad Education Trust case was questionable. There are several recorded conversations between middlemen including a retired judge of the Orissa HC, wherein references to Misra by innuendo are evident, alleged the Congress.
The second charge, relates to the CJI’s handling of a writ petition which sought an investigation into the matter of Prasad Education Trust, in which he too was likely to be investigated. The CJI should have recused himself from the case, the party said.
The fourth charge relates to the Chief Justice having acquired land when he was an advocate by giving an affidavit which was found to be false.
The Congress alleged that the CJI abused his power as master of the roster in choosing to send sensitive matters to particular benches with an intent to influence the outcome
Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Salman Khurshid and Abhishek Singvhi were at odds with his party’s big move and also said he was “not privy” to discussions on the impeachment motion.
“We didn’t involve Manmohan Singh intentionally as he is an ex-PM,” said Sibal.
On others who hadn’t signed, Sibal said: “We didn’t want a few others to be embarrassed as certain matters are pending.”
“Impeachment is too serious a matter to be played with frivolously on the grounds of disagreement with any judgement or point of view of the court,” Khurshid said.
“I am not party to or privy with discussions that have taken place between different parties and for me to reflect specifically on whether the grounds are justified would be unfair,” added the former Minister.