Eminent jurists, ex-judges didn't find fault with Naidu's decision, lawyers divided

Eminent jurists like Soli Sorabjee and Fali Nariman and some ex-judges did not find fault with today's decision of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejecting the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra but there was a political divide among lawyers associated with various parties on the outcome.

Sorabjee and Nariman were of the view that Congress-led opposition had no chance to succeed as issues raised in the impeachment notice against the CJI were not of "sufficient gravity and rightly rejected" by Naidu.

Identical views were expressed by former Supreme Court judge P B Sawant and retired Delhi High Court judge S N Dhingra, who said Naidu must have found that the move was politically motivated and without any proof.

However, there was a political divide among lawyers associated with various parties over the Rajya Sabha Chairman's decision to reject the impeachment notice against the CJI, as they termed the move either as "most perfect" or "erroneous" and "astounding".

Immediately after the rejection order, Sorabjee said if the opposition moves the apex court to challenge the decision he did not see any success for them.

"I don't see chances of the writ petition (challenging the Naidu's decision) succeeding," he said when his reaction was sought.

Nariman on his part said Naidu, as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, was the only statutory authority to take the decision on the notice.

"He (Naidu) is the only statutory authority to take that decision and in my view he has rightly taken the decision. The grounds raised in the impeachment notice are not of sufficient gravity.

"When you have a man like the chief justice of the Supreme Court, it (impeachment notice) has to have something that is far more important than just saying he did not do this or that. The vice president has the statutory authority and he has rightly rejected the notice," Nariman told a news channel.

Sorabjee said, "The vice president has applied his mind. He has consulted legal experts and has come to a decision. We did not want the matter hanging indefinitely".

"He (Naidu) has gone into the matter and found no merit in it and no ground for impeachment. Therefore, he rejected it," Sorabjee said.

The views of Sorabjee and Nariman was shared by Justice P B Sawant, who was a judge in the Supreme Court from 1989-1995 and Justice S N Dhingra, former judge of the Delhi High Court.

While Justice Sawant said the decision was "okay" as Naidu must have taken opinion of the people concerned, former Delhi High Court judge Justice S N Dhingra termed it "absolutely right" saying there was no proof of the charges levelled against the CJI.

"I am sure he (Naidu) must have taken the opinions of various people. It looks like a political move to me. Congress is definitely going to go to the Supreme Court if it is a political move. As the head of Rajya Sabha, he must have taken opinion of the people. Presently it seems okay to me," Justice Sawant said.

Justice Dhingra, too, supported Naidu's order on impeachment and said, "Rejection was absolutely right and based on facts. No other conclusion could have been reached. There was no proof of charges which were levelled. Prima facie, no case was made out."