SC dismisses plea for CJI's impeachment

The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition seeking impeachment of Chief Justice of India on the ground that he was not eligible to hold the office.

A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and B Sudershan Reddy found no merit in the petition, which, it said, had been filed belatedly after 24 years.

The petitioner, P A Chandran, a practising advocate from Kerala, had alleged that Justice Balakrishnan was illegally appointed to the Kerala High Court in 1985 though he did not fulfil the requirement laid down in the Constitution for appointment as a High Court judge.

According to the petitioner, it is mandatory for a person to have a minimum of 10 years service as a District Judge or 10 years practice as an advocate before being elevated to the High Court.

In the case of Justice Balakrishnan, the petitioner alleged that he worked merely as a Munsif Magistrate between 1973 to 1983, a post which is considered as subordinate judiciary and, hence, rendered him ineligible for the High Court judge's post.

Since his original appointment as High Court judge was itself illegal, his subsequent elevation as Chief Justice of India was also illegal, the petitioner argued while seeking his impeachment.

However, the argument found no merit with the bench, which, in a terse order, "dismissed" it and went ahead with the other matters in the agenda.