Jurist Fali Nariman on Monday supported Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu’s decision to reject the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that Opposition parties submitted on April 20, PTI reported. Nariman said that the Opposition’s objections “are not of sufficient gravity”.
“The vice president has the statutory power to reject or accept the petition under the law,” Nariman told the Hindustan Times. “He needs to decide on the maintainability of the petition. What he has done is correct because there is no credible allegation against the chief Justice.”
The senior lawyer said that the four senior Supreme Court judges who held a press conference in January and questioned Misra’s conduct were not in favour of impeachment. “I feel this impression should be removed or else the public will always suspect that they [four judges] were in favour of the impeachment,” Nariman observed.
When asked about the Congress’ decision to challenge Naidu’s decision in the Supreme Court, Nariman said that in such a situation Misra has to hand over the case to other judges though the rules do not stop him from hearing the case himself. “The CJI cannot take the plea,” Nariman told the Hindustan Times. “There is nothing in the rules that bars him from marking the case to anyone else. He is the Master of the Roster.”
On April 17, Nariman had said there was a “complete breakdown” in confidence between Misra and his fellow judges, causing disputes in the Supreme Court. However, he added that the chief justice was the Master of the Roster and that could not be changed.
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