‘Unprecedented and illegal’: Kapil Sibal condemns Venkaiah Naidu’s rejection of impeachment motion

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal lamented the rejection of the impeachment motion by Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu at a press conference today.

Sibal told the press that rejection of the motion was unprecedented because never has a motion, which has been signed by more than the required number of MPs in the Rajya Sabha, been dismissed like this in its preliminary stage.

He said this move by Naidu was also illegal because the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is required to conduct “a full-fledged inquiry” before he announces a decision.  Sibal said it was ill-advised of the Chairman to reject the motion without even consulting the judges who had voiced their concerns through a press conference on January 12, 2018.

Sibal also questioned Naidu for the haste in pronouncing this order, saying, “What was the tearing hurry?”

He stated that it usually takes days for consultation — checking documents and  calling out witnesses. He reiterated, “But obviously there was a tearing hurry. I don’t think momentous matters such as these should be dealt with in such a hurried fashion.”

Sibal even quoted Naidu from his order where he had said, “the prefix ‘proved’ places an obligation of actually proving the misbehavior…”, saying that proved misbehavior can come only after an inquiry and what Naidu has applied to it is not known to law.

The former HRD Minister also underscored that the Opposition will not stop at this and will take up legal recourse. Sibal said the Congress will move a petition in the Supreme Court challenging this order. He asserted that it will be ensured that the CJI is distanced from this petition.

He said it appears that the government at the Centre is not keen on holding an inquiry into the matter; by scuttling the inquiry, it does not want some information to come on record. “This will jeopardise the judicial system”, he concluded.