Opposition parties led by the Congress today met Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and handed over a notice for the impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
Over 60 members of parliament of the Rajya Sabha belonging to seven political parties gave the notice for the impeachment against the CJI, according to sources.
The MPs who signed the impeachment notice belong to the Congress, the NCP, the Communist Party of India Marxist and Communist Party of India, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The leaders of these parties earlier met in Parliament and gave final shape to the notice of impeachment.
After the meeting, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad confirmed that the leaders were moving the notice for impeachment against CJI. Among those who attended the meeting in Parliament were Congress leaders Azad, Kapil Sibal and Randeep Surjewala, besides CPI's D Raja and NCP's Vandana Chavan.
Sources said the Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which were initially in favour of the impeachment against the CJI, are no longer part of it.
The impeachment notice comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected a bunch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of Judge B H Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. The judgement was delivered by a bench headed by the CJI.
An impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha has to be supported by at least 50 MPs of the Upper House, while the number of MPs supporting such a motion in the Lok Sabha is 100.
Once the notice for impeachment is submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairman, he will ascertain whether there is merit or ground for moving such a motion.
In case he finds merit, then he may form a committee to look into it, else he can reject it. If moved, this will be the first time ever in the country's history that an impeachment would be moved against the Chief Justice of India.
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