CJI impeachment row: Congress questions setting up of five-judge bench, denies petition was political

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday questioned the setting up of a five-judge bench to hear a petition challenging rejection of the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and dismissed allegations that the plea, filed by two party MPs, was “political”. The party was for protecting “dignity and independence” of the courts, senior Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal said while pitching for transparency in the judicial process. [caption id=“attachment_4355691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kapil Sibal. PTI[/caption] The Congress MPs, for whom Sibal appeared before the Supreme Court, earlier in the day withdrew their plea in the apex court challenging rejection of the impeachment notice against Misra by Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. During the hearing, Sibal raised questions on the setting up of the constitution bench, including who passed the order for setting up the five-judge bench to hear the matter. Sibal had also sought of a copy of the order on setting up of the bench. “It was not a judicial order, but an administrative one…the petitioners have the right to know who passed the order…we wanted a copy of the order…they (the SC) did not pass any order saying that they will give us the copy of the order or not,” Sibal told reporters at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. He added that the petitioners intended to challenge the order of setting up of the bench. The former Union minister also said the Congress had no “personal complaint” against anyone and dismissed the “government’s allegation” that the petition was a “political matter”. “Which order in India cannot be challenged…We just want to say that we want to protect the dignity, independence of courts…transparency in the judicial process…so, the issue we have raised is not political, but one relating to the (developments in) courts,” Sibal said.