Vice President rejects impeachment motion against Chief Justice Dipak Misra

An impeachment motion was initiated against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra by more than 60 Rajya Sabha members of around seven different political parties including Congress, NCP, CPM, CPI, SP, BSP and Muslim League. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu rejected the motion as there were no sufficient grounds mentioned for initiation of impeachment proceedings. Before rejecting the motion vice president consulted many constitutional and legal experts including Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, former Law Secretary General Mr. K. Parasaran. He was the Attorney General during the Congress governments led by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. While submitting the motion Mr. Kapil Sibal referred to an earlier press conference held by senior four judges of the Supreme Court. He said, “ In their letter, the judges stated that administration of the court has not been proper. They said that time and again, they tried to collectively persuade the Chief Justice that certain things are not in order. They lamented that their efforts had failed and all four of them were convinced that unless the institution is preserved, democracy will not survive. We were hoping that the anguish of the judges would be addressed by the Chief Justice and that he would set his house in order.” Since then three months have passed and nothing has been changed. Chief Justice has done nothing to establish the independence of judiciary. Mr. Sibal also referred to medical college bribery case to assert that the first charge relates to the “ conspiracy to pay illegal gratifications” .