CJI impeachment plea: Supreme Court dismisses the petition as withdrawn

Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal on Tuesday withdrew a petition challenging the Vice-President’s decision to reject an impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra, after a five-judge bench refused to tell him who directed that the issue be placed before it.

“We will withdraw the petition,” Sibal told the Constitution Bench after it demanded that he argue on the merits of the case rather than insisting on the technicalities. The court asked whether Sibal’s case would be any better off if he came to know who had listed the case.

“If we give you the information, what will you do,” asked justice AK Sikri, one of the members of the bench. Other judges of the bench were justices SA Bobde, NV Ramana, Arun Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel.


Sibal, who was flanked by activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, replied: “It’s my right to know. If I come to know, I may or may not challenge it.” But the bench refused to oblige him, saying he should focus on the merits of the case. Sibal said the case could not have been listed before a larger bench without a judicial order passed by a smaller bench.

Under court convention, a smaller bench refers a matter involving a substantial question of law to a larger bench. However, the attorney general said there were exceptions to this rule in which the chief justice could assign cases to any bench he liked through administrative orders.