V-P no to impeachment

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 23

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday rejected the impeachment motion submitted by Congress-led Opposition seeking removal of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on five grounds of “misbehaviour”.

“I am of the firm opinion that the Notice of Motion does not deserve to be admitted,” the Vice President, also the RS Chairman, said in a point-by-point appraisal of allegations against CJI Misra in the April 20 motion signed by 64 Opposition members.

He said “in absence of credible and verifiable information” it would be an “inappropriate and irresponsible act to accept statements which have little empirical basis” and that he was “satisfied that admission of this Notice of Motion is neither desirable nor proper”.

Naidu said he reached the conclusion after carefully examining material contained in Notice, relevant provisions of the Constitution of India, statutory provisions pertaining to the removal of judges and inputs from legal luminaries and constitutional experts.

“Going through the five allegations mentioned in the notice, I am of the view that they are neither tenable nor admissible. The allegations emerging from the present case have a serious tendency of undermining the independence of judiciary, which is the basic tenet of the Constitution of India,” he said.

Naidu said Members of Parliament who presented the petition were “unsure of their own case”. “Phrases they used themselves indicate a mere suspicion, a conjecture or an assumption. The same certainly does not constitute proof ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, which is required to make out a case of ‘proved misbehaviour’ under Article 124 (4),” he said in a 10-page reply.

“Conversations between third parties with dubious credentials, which have been extensively relied upon, cannot themselves constitute any material evidence against the holder of the office of the Chief Justice of India,” he said.

“All facts as stated in motion don’t make out a case which can lead any reasonable mind to conclude that the CJI on these facts can be ever held guilty of misbehaviour,” he added. According to Naidu, he decided to expedite the process to “end needless speculation”. “I am also aware that there have been a spate of statements in the press that seem to vitiate the atmosphere. I thought I should, therefore, expedite my decision and end needless speculation,” he said.

Notably, just two days after Opposition parties submitted the motion, Naidu on Sunday set in motion the consultation process to decide on the motion. As he rejected the notice, Naidu also took the Opposition to task for a press conference on the issue, which he said was a breach of parliamentary conventions and violation of the Rajya Sabha norms. “This act of members of discussing the conduct of the CJI in the press is against propriety and parliamentary decorum as it denigrates the institution of CJI,” he said.

The Congress and six other parties — CPI, CPM, NCP, SP, BSP, IUML — submitted the notice on Friday. It was signed by 71 MPs, out of whom seven members had retired before it was submitted to Naidu.