Will move Supreme Court: Congress on rejection of CJI's impeachment notice

NEW DELHI: Shortly after Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu rejected Oppositions' impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, Congress on Monday said that the party will talk to legal experts and look for alternatives.

Calling the impeachment notice a crucial issue, Congress leader PL Punia said that they will move Supreme Court regarding the removal motion of the CJI.

"This is a really important matter. We don't know what was the reason for the rejection. Congress and other opposition parties will talk to some legal experts and take the next step," said PL Punia, on the rejection of the CJI's impeachment notice.

The rejection of the notice comes a day after he held the consultations with such experts to determine the maintainability of the motion.

In an unprecedented move, leaders of Opposition parties met Naidu on Friday and handed over the notice of impeachment against the CJI bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired. Lawmakers from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Muslim League had signed the motion.

Naidu on Sunday set in motion the process of consultation on the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and held discussions with a number of constitutional and legal experts, including Attorney General K K Venugopal, and former top law officer K Parasaran.

The vice president cut short his visit to Hyderabad and reached here to hold deliberations over the notice given by the seven opposition parties.

(With inputs from agencies)