Opposition parties led by the Congress Friday met Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu and handed over a notice for impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
According to sources, over 60 MPs of the Rajya Sabha belonging to seven political parties gave the notice for the impeachment against the CJI.
The MPs who signed the notice belong to the Congress, the NCP, the CPI-M and CPI, the SP and the BSP.
The leaders of these parties earlier met in parliament and gave final shape to the notice for impeachment.
After the meeting, leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad confirmed that the leaders were moving the notice for impeachment against CJI.
Among those who attended the meeting in parliament were Congress leaders Azad, Kapil Sibal and Randeep Surjewala, besides CPI’s D. Raja and NCP’s Vandana Chavan.
Sources said the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, which were initially in favor of the impeachment move against the CJI, are no longer part of it.
The impeachment notice comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected a bunch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of Judge B.H. Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
The SC judgement was delivered by a bench headed by the chief justice.
An impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha has to be supported by at least 50 MPs of the Upper House, while the number of MPs supporting such a motion in the Lok Sabha should be 100.
Once the notice for impeachment is submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairman, he will ascertain whether there is merit or ground for moving such a motion.
In case he finds merit, then he may form a committee to look into it, else he can reject it.
If moved, this will be the first time ever in the country’s history that an impeachment motion would be moved against the chief justice of India.
Article 124(4) of the constitution specifies the procedure for impeachment of a judge:
“A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity.”
As matters stand, it is unlikely that the parties backing the move to impeach the CJI would be able to muster a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, of course, their numbers are totally lacking.
However, the opposition is hoping that invocation of the process, which, if initiated by the vice president, would take several months would render Justice Mishra
hors de combat for the 15-odd weeks of his tenure that still remain. Once he retires, the motion would become infructuous.
