On April 23, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu dismissed a notice submitted by opposition MPs belonging to the Rajya Sabha for an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. Naidu, who is also chairman of the Upper House of Parliament, took just two days to do it. That same afternoon, the Congress announced that it would certainly challenge Naidu's decision in the Supreme Court.
However, almost a fortnight later, there is no sign yet of the Congress moving the Supreme Court for a judicial review of Naidu's decision to dismiss the Opposition's initiative for an impeachment motion against the CJI.
According to an eminent lawyer-politician in the Congress, the party is adopting a 'wait and watch' policy with regard to using the option of moving court on the rejection of the impeachment notice. “The higher judiciary is currently engaged in a tussle with the Centre over the elevation of Justice K.M. Joseph to the Supreme Court. Why should we do anything that digresses from this?” he asked.
The import of this statement is that the principal opposition party wants to see how the confrontation between the judiciary and the Centre—on the issue of the government allegedly sitting on recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium for appointments to the higher courts—plays out.
The message going out, as a result of the clash between the government and the SC collegium with regard to appointment of judges to the higher courts, is of the Narendra Modi government seeking to arm-twist the judiciary and impinge upon its independence as a reaction to the apex court having struck down the Parliament-approved National Judicial Appointments Commission. The NJAC, which was termed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, would have given the executive a direct say in appointment of judges.
The Congress does not seem to be in a mood to aggressively pursue the matter in the Supreme Court. And an added reason for this is that a section of the party believes that going in for a judicial review of Naidu's decision on the impeachment move would not be a politically astute thing to do. The move would backfire on the party and also make it appear as an adversary of the judiciary, it is felt.
However, another senior leader said that the party will not back off from its declaration that it will go to court to challenge Naidu's rejection of the impeachment notice. He asserted that it would be taken to its logical conclusion as the basic issue was that of the independence of judiciary being in peril.
