Naidu made right move: Jurists

Noted jurists Fali S Nariman and Soli Sorabjee on Monday said the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha was right in rejecting the motion of impeachment moved against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

The impeachment notice was not of "sufficient gravity" and was "rightly rejected" by Naidu, Nariman said.

He said the move by the Congress-led Opposition was only to demean the institution of the Supreme Court and it was not about Justice Misra.

"He (Naidu) was the only statutory authority to take that decision and, in my view, he has rightly taken the decision. The grounds raised in the impeachment notice are not of sufficient gravity," Nariman said.

"When you have a man like the Chief Justice of India, it (impeachment notice) has to have something that is far more important than just saying he did not do this or that. The vice president has the statutory authority and he has rightly rejected the notice," Nariman told a TV channel.

He said the CJI, as it is, is demitting office in October or November this year. It doesn't make sense to go ahead with this motion now.

Sorabjee, however, felt the Congress-led Opposition had no chance to succeed in the Supreme Court against Naidu's decision.

The Rajya Sabha chairman has "applied his mind" after consulting legal experts on the issue, he said.

"I don't see chances of the writ petition (challenging the Naidu's decision) succeeding," he said.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who spearheaded the campaign against the CJI, said the Rajya Sabha chairman's decision is illegal and unconstitutional.

"He does not have the authority to deal with the charges of misbehaviour, it was for a three-judge panel under the Judges (Inquiry) Act to decide. The chairman was supposed to just find out if the motion has been signed by the requisite number of MPs," he said.

Former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi fully endorsed the decision taken by the Naidu. He said the motion relied on phrases involving "may be's" and "appear to be's".