Congress drops impeachment proceedings against CJI

Signalling a course correction, the Congress has decided not to pursue the notice for motion on the impeachment of the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the Rajya Sabha.

An influential section within the Congress had its reservation over the notice which was submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on April 20.

“Good and wise decision of Congress party not to pursue impeachment motion with Congress MPs in Supreme Court any further,” senior Congress leader and senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

Singhvi too had reservations over the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India and was the last person to put his signature on the notice before it was submitted to Naidu last month.

Seven Opposition parties were signatories to the notice for the impeachment of the Chief Justice of India on five grounds of “misbehaviour”.

Naidu had rejected the notice for impeachment motion on April 23 saying it lacked substantial merit and that the allegations were “neither tenable nor admissible”.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh too had voiced strong disapproval over the move. Former finance minister P Chidambaram too was not a signatory to the motion.

Rajya Sabha members of the Congress — Partap Singh Bajwa and Amee Yajnik — had moved the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the decision of the Rajya Sabha chairman to reject the impeachment motion against the CJI.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who had spearheaded the impeachment motion and had also appeared on behalf of the two Rajya Sabha members in the apex Court, had raised several questions on the setting up of the Constitution Bench, to hear the petition. He had also sought to know who had passed the order to set up such a bench to hear the matter.

The Congress members withdrew their petition from the apex court after it showed reluctance to share with the petitioners a copy of the administrative order on the constitution of a five-judge bench to hear the matter.