VP Venkaiah Naidu rejects impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday rejected the notice moved by 64 Opposition MPs for impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

The impeachment motion was rejected by Naidu, citing lack of substantial merit. “After having perused annexures to the motion and having detailed consultations and having studied opinions of constitutional experts I am satisfied that admission of this notice of the impeachment motion is neither desirable nor proper,” ANI reported Naidu as saying.

“I have applied my mind to all five charges made out in the impeachment motion and examined all annexed documents. All facts as stated in the motion don't make out a case which can lead any reasonable mind to conclude that CJI on these facts can be ever held guilty of misbehavior,” stated Naidu.

The Vice President had consulted Attorney-General KK Venugopal, former law officer K Parasaran, retired Supreme Court judge Sudarshan Reddy, former Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap, former Law Secretary PK Malhotra and former Legislative Secretary of the Rajya Sabha Sanjay Singh while deciding on the impeachment motion, said news reports.

According to sources, Congress leaders said that the party is hoping for a judicial review of the impeachment. The Opposition leaders will be speaking to legal experts to chart their next course of action.

Notably, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweeted that the vice president has no powers state that the charges are not valid. Bhushan said “What! VP Naidu rejects impeachment motion against CJI signed by 64 RS MPs! On what grounds? He has no power to say that charges are not made out. That's for the inquiry committee of 3 judges. He only has to see if it's signed by [more than] 50 MPs and possibly if charges are of misbehaviour”.