Since the Judge Loya case judgement came, the Congress started the process for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India. This should not come as a surprise for those who have read about how the judiciary was controlled in the 1970s by the former Prime Minister Smt.Indira Gandhi. It is clear that it is not new for the Congress to sabotage the administration of Judiciary. Coming to the present case there was a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed to order a ‘free and fair’ enquiry into the death of Judge Loya who was hearing a case where BJP President Amit Shah was an accused.
In the process, the petitioners brought disrepute to the Judiciary and the judicial process. The court observed “By casting unfounded aspersions on the judicial officers who had accompanied Judge Loya, the petitioners have revealed the real motive of these proceedings which is to bring the judiciary into disrepute on the basis of scurrilous allegations. We find no basis or justification to allow the request for cross-examination.”
It also went on to say that this was a “serious attempt to scandalize the court and obstruct the course of justice.” One of the petitioners, Mr.Prashant Bhushan also asked two of the Judges to recuse themselves from the Bench as they ‘may have known’ two judicial officers who submitted their statements. Therefore it is clear that there was a continuous attempt by the petitioners to bring disrepute and make unsubstantiated allegations against the top court and some of its judges in particular. On the charge of the petitioner asking the judges to recuse themselves, the Apex Court noted that- ‘when a Judge faced with such “wanton attacks to withdraw from a case”, it would amount to “abdication of duty”’.
In no time, the Congress jumped in and started to discuss on initiating impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India who headed the bench which delivered the Judge Loya case verdict. It cited the unprecedented press conference of the four senior Judges where they expressed displeasure regarding “selective allocation of cases to preferred benches” which also included that of Judge Loya death case. One of the four judges, Justice Chelameswar in a recent interview told that ‘impeachment is not the solution to the problems’.
Despite this the Congress attached other unsubstantiated charges with this against the CJI to move the impeachment motion which was signed by 63 Rajya Sabha MPs. This was led by Mr.Kapil Sibal who had earlier pleaded before the bench headed by CJI to post the hearing of Ramjanmabhoomi case after 2019 elections which was subsequently rejected by the Court. It is noteworthy to mention that Mr.Kapil Sibal had in an interview to NDTV in 2010 told that he ‘does not accept the impeachment procedure as a proper procedure’. It would not be wrong if we say it is nothing less than hypocrisy.
Rightly Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Ex-officio Chairman of the Upper House rejected the motion citing several reasons.
“Having considered the material contained in the notice of motion and reflected upon the inputs received in my interaction with legal luminaries and constitutional experts, I am of the firm opinion that the notice of the motion does not deserve to be admitted. Accordingly I refuse to admit notice of motion,” said the Chairman.
The motion was unsubstantiated by facts and were mere allegations. As per article 124, Supreme court judge can be impeached on the grounds of “proved misbehaviour or incapacity” which is surely not the case here considering the fact that the motion submitted to the Chairman had words such as “likely” which meant the even those who submitted the motion were not sure of their charges. Therefore without having ‘proven beyond reasonable doubt’ it is preposterous to initiate Impeachment motion against any judge.
What is even more obnoxious is, even after the Chairman of Rajya Sabha rejected the petition, the Congress has continued with its unfounded allegations against the CJI to score political brownie points. In the latest post, Congress Social Media Head Divya Spandana tweeted alleging the CJI of fixing benches.
This tweet qualifies to be a Contempt of Court under the Contempt of Courts Act 1971. It is a scandalous allegation without any substantial merit which brings disrepute to the judiciary and attempts to sabotage its functioning. It is just a matter of who bells the cat.
It is clear now from the turn of events starting from Mr.Kapil Sibal requesting the Ayodhya case to be heard post 2019 elections to the Judge Loya case, both of which has not gone in its way, the Congress is in desperation to come back to power by hook or crook. In the process it has not spared institutions such as the Election Commission and the Supreme Court.
Any reasonable person can relate these actions of the Congress Party today to the Congress of Mrs.Indira Gandhi post Keshavananda Bharati case judgement where the executive sabotaged the functioning of the judiciary by appointing a judge as CJI superseding three senior most judges.
To conclude, as the Supreme Court opined in the Judge Loya case that the petitions were “a veiled attempt to launch a frontal attack on the independence of the judiciary and to dilute the credibility of judicial institutions.” So is the Impeachment motion of CJI, initiated by the Congress Party. It is high time the ‘tolerant judiciary’ initiates Contempt of Court proceedings against those who are making unfounded allegations against it and jail them.
