Opposition parties mull motion to remove CJI Dipak Misra, SP extends support

In a blow to the Indian judiciary, several opposition parties, including the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have initiated the process to bring a motion to remove Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

A day after senior NCP leader DP Tripathi said that the opposition parties have signed the draft proposal for moving a motion to remove CJI Misra, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday confirmed its support to the same. SP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari said, “SP stands with motion which is about bringing independence and unquestionable integrity to the judiciary.”

This comes a day after Tripathi said, "A lot of opposition parties have signed the draft proposal for moving a motion against CJI Dipak Misra. Many parties like the NCP, Left parties and I think TMC and Congress have also signed it."

The motion is in relation to the CJI's handling of the matters raised by four Supreme Court judges at a press conference on January 11, 2018. Following the unprecedented press meet by four senior SC judges - Justice Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Madan B Lokur - there were reports of senior Left leader Sitaram Yechury meeting NCP's Tariq Anwar and former JDU leader Sharad Yadav.

In an unprecedented move, four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court had accused the CJI in January 2018 of not adhering to the rules in assigning cases to appropriate benches, which they said could create "doubts" about the integrity of the top court.

Speaking to the media at the residence of Justice Chelameswar, the judges had said the SC administration was "not in order" and had released an undated letter they had written to Justice Misra in which they conceded that the CJI was the "master of the roster" but this was "not a recognition of any superior authority, legal or factual, of the Chief Justice over his colleagues".