New Delhi: The Congress along with the support of several opposition parties, as per the reports, is leading efforts to bring an impeachment motion in parliament against the current Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The concerned parties are circulating an unprecedented petition to sack the top judge, sources of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have confirmed.
NCP’s Majeed Memon informed about the ongoing drive and said that 20 signatures have been collected as of now. Three Congress leaders, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Ahmed Patel have already reportedly signed the petition and five more signatories are from the party of NCP.
Congress leaders said that there was nothing on record on the move that has been already confirmed mainly by NCP leaders namely, Majid Memon and DP Tripathi.
“The Congress as the largest opposition party has belatedly initiated the proceedings for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India,” Majid Memon said on Tuesday.
His colleague DP Tripathi said: “I have signed it and others are also signing it and the process is going on.” The CPI-M and CPI have also signed the petition, he said.
The petition got the support of Samajwadi Party. “The Samajwadi Party stands with the impeachment motion, which is about bringing independence and unquestionable integrity to the judiciary,” SP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari told news agency ANI.
Mr Tripathi asserted that it is not just corruption, but also “the charges are far more serious” and it emanates from the letter which was written by four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court had earlier written stating that there was danger to the independence of judiciary.
The petition is pertaining to the allegations that sensitive cases were assigned to handpicked judges and the most senior judges were ignored and the allegations were raised in January by the four top judges of the Supreme Court after the Chief Justice.
In order to move impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India, about 100 MPs need to sign for the petition in Lok Sabha. And 50 more signatures from the Rajya Sabha are required.
As per the reports, leaders from several opposition parties have already discussed the issue with the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Apart from that, many opposition leaders, including those from Trinamool Congress Party, NCP and the CPI(M), have reportedly held discussions over the past few days.
As on Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is in Delhi now, reportedly held discussions with senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan regarding the issue.
The Supreme Court of India was in deep crisis after an interview given by Supreme Court Senior judges Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur, and Kurian Joseph, in which they openly spoke against the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
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