NEW DELHI: The seven parties, including the Congress, that moved the impeachment notice against Dipak Misra, listed out five counts of “misbehaviour” which include a charge that the CJI brought a piece of land by filing an affidavit later found to be “false” and he returned the plot only in 2012 after he was elevated even though the same was cancelled in 1985.
On April 20 2018, seven opposition parties submitted a petition seeking impeachment of Dipak Misra to the Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, with signatures from 71 parliamentarians.
A delegation of seven opposition political parties, led by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi azad met Vice President and the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu to discuss their proposed impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
Besides the Congress, those who signed the notice include members of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Nationalist Congress Party and the Indian Union Muslim League.
The Opposition has been working on bringing various parties on board for a larger consensus on bringing an impeachment motion against the CJI.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the impeachment notice a “revenge petition” after the falsehood of the Congress was established in the Loya case.
The procedure to remove a judge has to also take into account Article 14 of the Constitution which comes under the Fundamental Rights.
Article 14 states that “the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”
However, senior Congress leader and lawyer Salman Khurshid chose to stay away from the impeachment motion initiated by Congress and six other parties.
On 12 January 2018, four senior judges of the Supreme Court; Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph addressed a press conference criticizing Misra’s style of administration and about the allocation of cases. However, people close to Misra refuted these allegations.
