Venkaiah Naidu rejects impeachment motion, opposition MPs to move Supreme Court

Dealing a blow to the opposition, Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday rejected an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Dipak Misra on the ground that there was lack of "credible and verifiable" information on charges of "misbehaviour" which, he said, undermined judiciary's independence.

The Chairman's decision on the petition filed by 64 MPs belonging to seven parties led by the Congress on Friday was met with strong criticism from former Law Minister and eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal, who termed it as illegal and unconstitutional done in a "tearing hurry". He said the order will be challenged in the Supreme Court. However, BJP President Amit Shah attacked the Congress saying the opposition move was part of a larger trend to demonise and weaken every institution which seeks to maintain its individual identity and not kowtow to the dynasty.

The Chairman's ruling came before proceedings opened in the Supreme Court on Monday apparently to enable the Chief Justice to continue his work uninterrupted. "... we cannot allow any of our pillars of governance to be weakened by any thought, word or action," Naidu said in a 10-page order, holding that admission of the notice was "neither desirable nor proper".

"I am also aware that it is imperative that we should have extraordinary, important and substantial grounds for the removal of a judge," said Naidu, who held legal consultations on Sunday. The motion alleged five charges of "misbehaviour" against the CJI including conspiracy to pay illegal gratification in a case relating to an educational trust and the alleged violation of code of conduct for judges by presiding over every bench that heard the case and passed orders.

The Chairman held that since the notice was signed by 64 members, it met the requirement of Section 3(1)(b) of the Judges Inquiry Act for moving a motion. At the stage of admission, Naidu said he had to apply a test that if every statement stated in the petition was believed to be true, would it still amount to a case of "proved misbehaviour". The Supreme Court said it was also salutary that before admitting the motion to remove a judge there shall exist factual foundation.

The Chairman referred to expressions "proved misbehaviour" and "incapacity" used in Article 124 (4) of the Constitution and said proved misbehaviour was an expression clearly distinguishable from misconduct as was apparent from the language of Article 124. "The intent, gravity and onus are of a much higher degree. The prefix 'proved' places an obligation of actually proving the misbehaviour before the parliamentary procedure for removal of a judge can come into play," he said.

Naidu said the MPs who presented the petition were unsure of their own case. Page one of the petition used phrases such as "the facts and circumstances relating to Prasad Education Trust case saw prima facie evidence suggesting that the CJI 'may have been' involved in a conspiracy of paying illegal gratification..." The motion also said that the CJI was "likely to fall" within the scope of investigation and that he "appears to have" anti-dated an administrative order.

"I am mentioning this fact because the phrases used by MPs themselves indicate a mere suspicion, a conjecture of an assumption. The same does not constitute prove 'beyond reasonable doubt', which is required to make out a case of 'proved misbehaviour' under Article 124 (4). Conversations between third parties with dubious credentials, which have been extensively relied upon, cannot themselves constitute any material evidence material against the holder of the office of the CJI," the order said.

Attacking the rejection of the impeachment motion as "illegal, wrong and unconstitutional", Sibal said the opposition members who had signed the motion would move the Supreme Court challenging the rejection. He said it was unprecedented that the motion has been rejected even before it was admitted.

Sibal, one of the main movers of the motion, hoped that the CJI would keep out of hearing the challenge petition. "We will certainly move the petition in the Supreme Court to challenge this order. We are confident that when we move the Supreme Court, he has nothing to do with it so that it is heard and the serious issues which are constitutional in nature in which we determine whether we will bring transparency to the process of law will be decided by the court."

Reacting to the developments, Amit Shah said in a Facebook post that right now the buzzword for the Congress and their friends was 'impeachment'. "The judiciary, which is an institution that is trusted by 125 crore Indians, has invited the wrath of Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in particular. I will not get into the reasons (which everybody knows) but I will say that this is a part of a larger trend to demonize and weaken every institution that seeks to maintain its individual identity and not kowtow to the dynasty," he said.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who addressed a gathering here on Monday to mark the party's "Save the Constitution" campaign, accused the Modi government of "crushing" and "suppressing" the Supreme Court and asserted that his party would not allow the ruling alliance to derail institutions created by the Constitution. Gandhi said that institutions such as the Supreme Court, high courts, the Lok Sabha, assemblies and the Election Commission have been built on the basis of the Constitution which has been given to the country by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the Congress.

"It has happened for the first time that four judges of the Supreme Court went to the people to seek justice. The Supreme court is being crushed, it is being suppressed. Parliament was not allowed to run," Gandhi said. He alleged that people with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background were being inducted into various institutions by the BJP-led government.

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