The Congress on Sunday stepped up pressure on Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra to recuse himself from judicial and administrative duties at the Supreme Court in the wake of the petition for his removal submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.
The Congress leaders also rubbished reports that the Opposition parties had violated parliamentary rules of procedure by going public about the impeachment motion before it was admitted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
"The post of the CJI is a very high post. It is a position of trust and responsibility. People go to courts with a sense of confidence. I would wish that he (Misra) regain the trust and then continue to work," Vivek Tanka, chairman of the legal and human rights cell of the Congress, told reporters here.
Tankha, a member of the Rajya Sabha, is also a signatory to the motion for the removal of the CJI that was presented to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Friday.
Tankha, along Rajya Sabha members Tankha, K T S Tulsi and Amee Yajnik addressed a press conference here after reports emerged that the CJI may not recuse himself from judicial and administrative work in the Supreme Court as he was feeling reassured by the support he had received from a large number of senior advocates and lawyers.
"I would appeal to the CJI that he should take a decision that is in the interest of the people and the nation and decide for himself what he should do next once there is a signed memorandum against him," Amee, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat said.
She said the CJI should take the same decision he would have taken in a circumstance when some other judicial officer would have been facing similar issues he had faced.
"What action he would have taken in that situation that he should apply to himself," Yajnik said.
Tulsi, an independent member of the Rajya Sabha, dismissed suggestions that the Opposition parties had violated rules by going public about their motion for the removal of the CJI.
He recalled that in 2009, when a motion for impeachment of Justice P D Dinakaran, the then Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, was moved, BJP leader Arun Jaitley and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury had addressed the media immediately.
Tulsi said that by defending Justice Misra, the BJP was degrading the high office of the Chief Justice of India.
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