No order in Constitution that cannot be challenged, says Sibal

Hours after withdrawing the petition challenging the Rajya Sabha Chairman's decision rejecting the impeachment proceedings against the Chief Justice of India, the Congress on Tuesday signalled that it was not the end of their fight to protect the autonomy of the judiciary.

“There is no order in the Constitution that cannot be challenged. We asked the Justice Sikri-led bench to give us the order that constituted his bench, so that we could challenge it if we deemed fit,” Sibal, the counsel for Rajya Sabha members Partap Singh Bajwa and Amee Yajnik, told reporters here.

Sibal also dismissed the accusation that the plea filed by the two Rajya Sabha members was “political” in nature.

“There is no statement in the petition that can be linked to politics. All matters pertain to courts. There is no politics in this,” Sibal said.

He said all that the Congress was interested in was protecting the dignity and independence of the judiciary and transparency in the judicial process.

In a clear signal that the petitioners have not given up on the efforts on challenging the Rajya Sabha Chairman's decision, Sibal said it would be inappropriate for the petitioners to argue on the merits of the case till the issue over setting up a five-judge bench was settled.

“It would be inappropriate for the petitioners to seek any indulgence of this court on the merits of this case till such time as such opportunity is afforded to the petitioners,” Sibal said.

The former law minister said the petitioners wanted to know who passed the order that the petition moved by them would be heard by a five-judge bench.

“Normally, reference to such a bench is made by a judicial order. But there is no judicial order here. So who passed the order,” he asked.