Opposition parties to meet to give shape to proposed CJI impeachment motion

According to sources, opposition parties including the Congress, the NCP, the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some others will meet in Parliament to give final shape to the proposed impeachment motion.

Thereafter, the opposition parties will meet the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and are likely to submit the same today itself, the sources said.

A time has already been sought from the Chairman, they said.

“We will meet today to give final shape to the impeachment motion to be moved against the Chief Justice of India,” an opposition leader told PTI.

Sources said the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, 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 SC judgement was delivered by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.

An impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha has to be supported by a total of 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 an impeachment motion 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.