Decision to Reject Chief Justice Impeachment Notice After Due Diligence, Says Venkaiah Naidu in His Defence

He was speaking to a group of SC lawyers.

New Delhi, April 24: Defending his decision to reject the notice for the impeachment of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dipak Misra, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday that it wasn’t a hasty decision but a well thought out, one carried out after “due diligence”.

“Freedom of expression allows that, but ultimately truth prevails. I have done the just thing in the best possible manner expected of me,” The Times of India quoted Naidu as saying on Tuesday. Talking to a group of ten Supreme Court lawyers who met Naidu to congratulate him over his decision, the latter reportedly said, “I have done my job and am satisfied with it.” Naidu told the group that the Chief Justice is the highest judicial functionary so any issue in public domain relating to him requires to “be resolved at the earliest following prescribed procedures so as to prevent the atmosphere from being further vitiated.” Naidu said his decision conformed with provisions in the Constitution and the Judges Inquiry Act.

On Monday, Naidu had rejected the notice by Congress-led seven Opposition parties to impeach Chief Justice Misra on five grounds of “misbehaviour” as he said the allegations were neither “tenable nor admissible”. The Congress had called Naidu’s decision “hasty and ill-informed.”