Opposition ganging up to move impeachment motion against CJI
28 Mar 2018
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Opposition political parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) and some other parties are now looking at the possibility of moving an impeachment motion in Parliament against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, after some senior judges objected to his arbitrary manner of assigning cases.
The political move follows allegations by senior Supreme Court justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurien Joseph that CJI Dipak Misra was assigning important cases in an arbitrary manner to junior judges.
Leaders of these opposition parties discussed the matter raised by the senior judges over the functioning of the apex court and are of the view that the CJI had failed to address the key issues raised by the four seniormost judges.
Reports said the opposition MPs are in the process of collecting the mandatory 50 signatures required to introduce the motion in the Rajya Sabha in the ongoing session.
The discussions are expected to continue until a consensus evolves and opposition leaders are planning to reach out to more like-minded parties.
Opposition leaders say the CJI is in no mood to take any initiatives to address vital issues regarding the independent functioning of the apex court, although two months have lapsed since senior judges raised the issue.
In January, justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurien Joseph had alleged that Misra was assigning important cases in an arbitrary manner to junior judges, overlooking senior judges. They had cited the case regarding the death of Justice BH Loya as an example.
Besides the Justice Loya case, the sensitive cases that are currently being heard in the Supreme Court include the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case and the Aadhaar case.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury was the first to voice his party’s demand for bringing an impeachment motion against the CJI. However, other opposition parties, including Congress, have been slow to respond.
