Congress, Opposition parties sign draft proposal to bring impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra: Reports

Congress and some other Opposition parties have signed a draft proposal for moving an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, ANI reported.

The news agency quoted NCP leader DP Tripathi as saying that many parties, including NCP, Left parties, and TMC may have signed the proposal apart from Congress.

File image of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. PTI

The parties had resumed discussion on the impeachment motion after they felt that the chief justice was not doing enough to address the key issues raised by the four seniormost judges concerning the functioning of the Supreme Court when they held an unprecedented joint press conference in January, The Economic Times reported quoting a senior leader in an Opposition party. The impeachment motion could be tabled in the ongoing Budget Session.

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To bring an impeachment motion, the proposal should have a support of 50 members if it is introduced in the Rajya Sabha, and likewise 100 members in Lok Sabha. The motion can be submitted in either House and the Speaker may admit or reject such a proposal. In case the proposal is accepted, the Speaker forms a three-member committee to probe the charges laid against the judge, in this case, CJI Misra, and if found guilty the House can take up the matter. The President then finally addresses the Parliament and passes the impeachment order.

Reports said that the Congress party had circulated the draft to like-minded parties to gather the support of required 50 MPs as it plans to introduce the motion in Rajya Sabha, where the BJP is not yet in majority.

Furthermore, The Scroll reported that senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has also met Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday to discuss the impeachment motion.

Bhushan had earlier filed a complaint against Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior most apex court judges, including the four rebel judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

In January, four out of the five members of collegium took the unprecedented step of addressing the media to accuse Chief Justice Dipak Misra of breaching rules and "selectively assigning" cases that have "far-reaching consequences for the nation" to "junior judges." Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and Madan B Lokur besides Justice Chelameswar said that the Supreme Court administration was "not in order" and hinted that they were unhappy with the way the case on CBI special judge Justice Loya's death was allocated for hearing.

Following this, Communist Party of India (Marxist) said that it was reaching out to other parties to move the impeachment motion, but most parties then preferred to adopt the wait and watch approach.

"The CPM is discussing with other Opposition parties the possibility of bringing an impeachment motion against the CJI," Sitaram Yechury had said on 23 January just ahead of the Budget Session. But nothing materialised at the time. Now with Banerjee and other Opposition parties reaching out to forge a unified front, the matter seems back on agenda for the Opposition parties.