Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday that he made the decision to reject the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra “in strict conformity with the provisions of the Constitution and the Judges Inquiry Act of 1968”. He said “his decision was not a hasty one” as it was made “after over a month of due diligence”, Rajya Sabha TV reported, quoting unidentified officials.
Naidu made the statement while referring to reports speculating on the basis of his decision to dismiss the motion against Misra moved by the Congress and other Opposition parties on April 20. While the impeachment motion was formally moved last week, Opposition parties had been deliberating on it since January.
“I have since been working on the provisions, procedures and precedents in the matter, given the serious nature of the proposal and its implications and the imperative need for a timely decision,” Naidu said on Tuesday, according to officials.
“The chief justice of India is the highest judicial functionary of the country, and any issue in public domain concerning him requires to be resolved at the earliest following prescribed procedures,” he said. “Issues raised in the notice mostly pertained to the functioning of the Supreme Court, and they have to be resolved internally. Any other means of seeking to address them amounts to interference in the independence of judiciary.”
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