Venkaiah Naidu starts consultation process on impeachment notice against CJI

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday set in motion the process of consultation on the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and held discussions with constitutional and legal experts, including Attorney General K K Venugopal.

Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu. Photo PTI

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday set in motion the process of consultation on the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and held discussions with constitutional and legal experts, including Attorney General K K Venugopal. The vice president cut short his visit to Hyderabad and reached here to hold deliberations over the notice given by the seven opposition parties. According to officials, Naidu today spoke to former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, ex-law secretary P K Malhotra and former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh on the issue. He also held deliberations with senior officials of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the officials said, adding that Naidu also spoke to former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy. The officials said the vice president also spoke to the attorney general on the issue. Leaders of the opposition parties had on Friday met Naidu and handed over the notice of impeachment against the chief justice of India (CJI) bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired. The opposition parties, led by the Congress, initiated the unprecedented step to impeach the CJI by moving the notice levelling charges against him. The parties had briefed the media after handing over the notice to the Upper House chairman. While reviewing the notice, the Rajya Sabha officials had mentioned that making public the contents of a notice before it is admitted by the chair is in violation of parliamentary rules. According to the provisions in the handbook for Rajya Sabha members, no advance publicity should be given to any notice to be taken up in the House till it is admitted by the chairman. The move to propose impeachment notice against the CJI has led to a slugfest between the Congress and the BJP. Meanwhile, the Congress said that the CJI should considering recusing himself from judicial and administrative duties until his name is cleared. The BJP has said the Congress was trying to demean, degrade and denigrate the judiciary by moving the notice.