Chief Justice Impeachment: Venkaiah Naidu begins consultations with legal experts

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday started consultations on the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra given by the seven opposition parties.

Naidu, who was in Hyderabad, cut short his visit and held discussions with several legal experts, including Attorney General KK Venugopal.

According to officials, Naidu spoke to former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, ex-law secretary PK Malhotra and former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh on the issue.

Being the Rajya Sabha chairman, Naidu can alone decide whether the opposition's notice for the impeachment of CJI Misra will be accepted or rejected.

He also held discussions with senior officials of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, they said, adding that Naidu also spoke to former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy.

Opposition parties, led by the Congress have sought removal of Dipak Misra and given notice of impeachment against him. The notice given to Naidu was bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired.

The move to seek the impeachment of the CJI has led to a political slugfest between the main Opposition Congress and the ruling BJP.

The ruling party accused the Congress of trying to demean, degrade and denigrate the judiciary by seeking Misra's impeachment.      

The Congress said that the CJI should be considering recusing himself from judicial and administrative duties until his name is cleared.

Senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday said that he will not appear in the court of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra until his name was not cleared.

“I will not appear in the Chief Justice’s court from tomorrow onwards… till he retires, because that is consistent with the highest standards of my profession, Sibal was quoted by The Indian Express.

(With Inputs from agencies)