Five-Judge Bench to Hear Petition Today
A five-judge constitution bench has been constituted in the Supreme Court to hear the petition moved by two Congress Rajya Sabha MPs challenging the rejection of the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra by Rajya Sabha Chairperson and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, on Tuesday, 8 May.
The list of business for the Supreme Court showed that the petition, which was mentioned on Monday, 7 May, would be heard on Tuesday by a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde, NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, and AK Goel.
While Justice Sikri, who will head the bench, is number six in the seniority list, others follow him in the sequence of seniority.
Earlier in the day, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was one of the signatories to the impeachment notice in the Rajya Sabha, had mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar, the senior-most after CJI Misra.
While Justice Chelameswar initially asked him to mention the matter before the CJI, the bench, also comprising Justice SK Kaul, later asked Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan to "come back tomorrow.”
Advocate Prasahan Bhushan Files RTI
Advocate Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday filed an RTI seeking a copy of the administrative order constituting a five-judge constitution bench to hear the impeachment case against the CJI, hours after the Supreme Court showed reluctance to part with it.
In his RTI application, Bhushan has sought information from the central public information officer of the Supreme Court regarding the listing of the case before a five-judge constitution bench, and also who had passed the administrative order.
Congress Fishing in Trobuled Waters: Jaitley on CJI Impeachment Issue
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, 8 May accused the Congress of fishing in troubled waters and adopting a fringe position over the issue of impeachment of the Chief Justice of India which he said will hurt immediately the party in the Karnataka elections.
"Finding a divided court, the Congress wanted to fish in troubled waters. If the motion for impeachment was unsustainable, the writ petition challenging the order of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, was unarguable," Jaitley wrote in a hard-hitting Facebook post.
Kapil Sibal Addresses Media Post Plea Dismissal
The Congress questioned the setting up of a five-judge bench to hear a petition challenging rejection of the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and dismissed allegations that the plea, filed by two party MPs, was “political”.
The party was for protecting “dignity and independence” of the courts, senior Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal said while pitching for transparency in the judicial process.
During the hearing, Sibal raised questions on the setting up of the constitution bench, including who passed the order for setting up the five-judge bench to hear the matter.
Sibal had also sought of a copy of the order on setting up of the bench.
It was not a judicial order, but an administrative one…the petitioners have the right to know who passed the order…we wanted a copy of the order…they (the SC) did not pass any order saying that they will give us the copy of the order or not.Kapil Sibal
He added that the petitioners intended to challenge the order of setting up of the bench.
The former Union minister also said the Congress had no "personal complaint" against anyone and dismissed the “government's allegation” that the petition was a “political matter”.
Which order in India cannot be challenged…We just want to say that we want to protect the dignity, independence of courts…transparency in the judicial process…so, the issue we have raised is not political, but one relating to the (developments in) courts.Kapil Sibal
'Unprecendented Situation': AK Sikri
Terming the setting up of the constitution bench an ‘unprecedented situation,' Justice AK Sikri said that the matter had come to the five-judge bench as the four other senior judges had "a role to play in the whole episode."