The controversy surrounding four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court publicly revolting against Chief Justice Dipak Misra got political this week when the Communist Party of India (Marxist) declared its intention to consider his impeachment.
Speaking to ANI, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that his party is willing to discuss this issue with other opposition parties and resolve it by playing the role of the executive since the judiciary has failed to do so by itself.
Yechury claimed that CPM has already reached out to a few senior opposition leaders and that they will move an impeachment motion in the upcoming budget session of the Parliament if they can gather consensus by then.
This controversy stems from an incident earlier this month when four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court held a press conference complaining of irregularities in the way the Chief Justice was assigning cases to judges. They claimed that matters of “national importance” were being given to specific benches.
Immediately after that media conference, Justice Chelameshwar (currently the senior-most judge after Chief Justice Misra) had met CPI MP D. Raja, setting off rumors of political interference in the whole issue. Several other opposition leaders like Mamta Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi had also expressed views on the subject.
The Budget session of the Parliament will begin on 29th January and will conclude on 9th February, with the presentation of the annual budget scheduled for the 1st next month.