Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu has rejected the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, moved by 7 opposition parties. The impeachment notice had come a day after the Supreme Court rejected a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of Judge B H Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Signatures of 64 lawmakers from seven parties were submitted on Friday.
The order passed by Shri Naidu states,
“The motion presented by the MPs indicates a mere suspicion, conjecture or an assumption in the Prasad Education Trust case. The same does not constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt required to make out a case of proved misbehavior.”
The order said the conversations between third parties with dubious credentials cannot themselves constitute material evidence against CJI.
“Going through the allegations mentioned in the notice, I am of the view they are neither tenable nor admissable. The allegations emerging from the case have a serious tendency of undermining the independence of the judiciary, which is the basic tenet of the Constitution of India.”
The order further said,
I am  of the clear  opinion  that  all  facts,  as  in  the motion,  read  with the context  of  the  annexed documents, do not make out a  case   under Article 124 (4) of the  Constitution   which can lead  any  reasonable  mind   to  conclude that    the   Chief   Justice   of  India   on   these  facts can  be  ever   held   guilty  of “misbehaviour”.
Shri Naidu further noted,
“As   heirs  to an illustrious democratic tradition and custodians of the present and future of democratic  polity, we  should, in  my view, collectively  strengthen   and   not   erode the   foundations   of  the   grand edifice bequeathed to us by the Constitution makers. We cannot allow  any of our  pillars of governance  to be weakened by any  thought,  word,  or action.”

Rajya Sabha

[Order Dt. 23.4.2018]

 

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