Controversies and the Chief Justice: What led to the impeachment motion against Dipak Misra

Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu has rejected the impeachment motion moved by seven opposition parties against the Chief Justice of India. But, can the five charges levelled against Justice Misra be wished away.

Opposition members, including 51 from the Congress, 5 each from the NCP and CPI(M), and 7 SP members, besides BSP, CPI and IUML, had moved an impeachment notice against the CJI to remove him from his post for his alleged involvement in corruption cases and misuse of power.

Lucknow-based Prasad Education Trust, which was barred from admitting students to its medical colleges by the Centre, had moved the Allahabad High Court challenging the decision and had allegedly bribed the judge, Narayan Shukla, for a favourable judgment.
Subsequently, the Medical Council of India had approached the Supreme Court. It was also alleged that the HC judges had assured a trust member that they will get a favourable order through their contacts in the SC.

When a bench headed by the CJI started hearing the case, questions were raised. The allegations gained further traction after CJI Misra denied permission to the CBI to register an FIR against Justice Narayan Shukla, and then, in November 2017, a bench headed by him dismissed a plea seeking another probe into the case.

Justice Misra was also charged with dealing on the administrative and the judicial side of a writ petition, which had sought a probe into the Prasad Education Trust scam. The Chief Justice of India was likely to fall under the scope of investigation.

While hearing the medical admissions scam, an NGO lead by Prashant Bhushan had filed a PIL that the role of SC judges named in the scam should be probed. It was said that the CJI should not head the bench since he was under scanner. Justice Chelameswar had subsequently passed an order stating that the matter be listed before a bench of five judges. But a few days later, he was informed that all matters will be heard by a bench headed by the CJI. This was termed as an abuse of administrative powers of the CJI.

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was accused of grabbing land meant for the landless poor when he was an advocate by submitting false proofs. The allotment was cancelled in 1985. But he surrendered the land only in 2012 after he was elevated to the Supreme Court.

The fifth charge against CJI Misra was that he chose to send politically sensitive matters to select benches by misusing his authority as the Master of the Roster with the likely intent to influence the outcome.

In January 2018, four Supreme Court judges had alleged gross irregularities in the administrative and judicial areas in the apex court, pointing a finger at Misra. Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurien Joseph alleged that Misra was assigning important cases in an arbitrary manner to junior judges, ignoring the four senior most judges in the process.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said the impeachment notice was rejected as "credible and verifiable information" was missing. In his statement, Naidu said: Motion undermines independence of judiciary; there are no credible/verifiable facts in the case; going to press by MPs denigrated institution of CJI; MPs are unsure of their own charges; some of the charges are internal matters to be resolved by the Supreme Court on its own.