CHIEF JUSTICE FACES INDIA PARTIES’ WRATH
Ruling government shaken, calls impeachment move motivated
NEW DELHI: A Chief Justice of India (CJI) faces an impeachment motion for the first time in the Republic’s history. Seven parties in the opposition benches, led by the Congress, on Friday submitted a notice for an impeachment motion in Parliament.
The move against Chief Justice Dipak Mishra carries 71 signatures. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who received the notice, is expected to seek legal opinion.
“We wish this day had never come,” the opposition said in a statement that explained the unprecedented move. It lists ive allegations of misbehaviour against Mishra.
The Congress, whose prominent leaders Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid kept away from signing, said in a statement: “The constitution allows only one recourse to remedy the situation. Since there is no other way to protect the institution except to move on impeachment motion, we, members of the Rajya Sabha, do so with a heavy heart.”
Asked why Manmohan Singh stayed away, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: “We didn’t involve Manmohan Singh intentionally as he is an ex-pm.” Even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called it a Congress bid for revenge against Mishra, the opposition party vehemently denied it. A bench led by Mishra ruled on Thursday that there was no merit in petitions that sought a probe into the death of judge BH Loya and the Congress had attacked it. Loya was deciding on murder charges against BJP president Amit Shah when he died of a heart attack in 2014.
The ive “charges” listed in the notice include Mishra’s assigning of sensitive cases to handpicked judges. These allegations were raised in January by four top judges who accused him of abusing his position as “master of the roster.”
Apart from the Congress, the BSP, Samajwadi Party, NCP, CPI, Indian Union Muslim League and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have signed the petition. The Trinamool Congress, DMK, and Lalu Yadav’s RJD are against impeachment. The statutory process of impeachment for the Chief Justice of India is based on the ground of proven misbehaviour or incapacity.
“A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his ofice 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,” the Constitution says.
Arun Jaitley attacked the move harshly, accusing “the Congress and its friends” of using impeachment as “a political tool.” a step that he insisted, trivialises the use of this power and is “a dangerous event.”
“My preliminary reaction to the impeachment motion iled today is clear. It is a revenge petition after the falsehood of the Congress Party has been established in the Justice Loya death case. It is an attempt to intimidate a Judge and send a message to other Judges, that if you don’t agree with us, ifty MP’S are enough for a revenge action. The charges read out are issues those which have been settled by judicial orders or by precedent. Some issues are stale, trivial and have nothing to do with judicial functions,” he said.