Sitaram Yechury: Dismissal of CJI impeachment move “blatantly illegal”

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday said that the “the hasty” dismissal of the impeachment move against Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra is “blatantly illegal and unconstitutional”.

Earlier, a move led by the Congress to impeach the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, was blocked by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, saying that it "lacked substantial merit".

Reacting to Venkaiah Naidu's order rejecting the impeachment notice against the CJI moved by Rajya Sabha lawmakers from seven parties, Yechury took to social media and said: “BJP government is abusing constitutional posts to muzzle all democratic means of redressal.”

Wondering if the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha is going to decide on the merits of a notice of impeachment, he asked then what is the inquiry panel supposed to do? “That's the reason why no earlier notice for impeachment has been rejected by the Chair so far.”

Referring to the rejection order of the impeachment, he wrote on Facebook, “If all allegations at the outset itself will have to be proven, we would not need the Judges Inquiry Act proceedings at all.”

He further said that BJP government has tried to strangulate the judiciary, by interfering in appointments of Judges to Supreme Court and High Courts. “This dismissal of the impeachment notice is another step to destroy the independence of the Judiciary,” he said and added that Opposition parties will take recourse to all means to ensure that India's Constitution is protected and implemented in its true spirit.

Maintaining that the same thing happened in the case of the no-confidence motion during the budget session, he asked “if this is not the breakdown of the Constitution, then what is?”