Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu begins consultations on impeachment notice
New Delhi, 23 April: Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, who, as the Rajya Sabha chairman, alone has the reposnibility to decide if the opposition's impeachment notice of Chief Justice Dipak Misra will be accepted or not, has started consultations on the matter.
Sources say that he has already spoken to Attorney General KK Venugopal, former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy, former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap, former Law Secretary PK Malhotra, former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh, and senior officials of the Rajya Sabha secretariat and that he is also expected to consult former Supreme Court judge Sudarshan Reddy.
The notice in question -- carrying signatures of 71 lawmakers from seven parties -- was submitted to Mr Naidu on Friday.Although,Seven of the lawmakers have stepped down since, the number of signatures is still well above the mandatory 50, the party has said. According to the rules, Mr Naidu now has to decide whether the motion will be accepted.
The Constitution says the Chief Justice of India can be impeached only on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. The opposition has backed its demand on five grounds, which, the Congress said, equals misbehavior. In a stinging takedown, Union Minister Arun Jaitley has called it a "revenge petition", accusing the "Congress and its friends" of using impeachment as "political tool".
While impeachment proceedings have never been taken up against a Chief Justice of India, the procedure says after such a notice is given, the chairman forwards it to the Rajya Sabha secretariat to verify mainly two things --- the signatures of the members who signed the petition and whether the rules and procedures have been followed.
The secretary general of Rajya Sabha sends a report to the chairman who then decides whether to accept the petition or not. The chairman is likely to receive the report by Tuesday.
If the motion is admitted, he has to form a three-member committee to investigate the charges against the Chief Justice of India. The committee will comprise a senior judge of the Supreme Court, a judge of the High Court and a distinguished jurist. If they support the motion, it is taken up for discussion and voting in the house. The process is followed in the other house if the motion is passed in the first house with a special majority.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bhurtel, Airee fire as Nepal snap 12-year winless run in T20WC, beat Scotland by 7 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Kushal Bhurtel’s early fireworks and Dipendra Singh Airee’s unbeaten fifty helped Nepal end their 12-year-long winless run in T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket triumph against Scotland in an inconsequential Group C match here on Tuesday.
Nepal had gone winless since 2014 when they beat Afghanistan and the Netherlands on T20 World Cup debut, but the Rhinos signed off from this edition with a memorable victory in front of more than 19,000 fans at the Wankhede Stadium here.
Chasing 171, Nepal responded with 171/3 in 19.2 overs with Airee’s quickfire 50 not out off 23 balls, with three sixes and four fours, being the highlight of their spirited chase along with Bhurtel's (43) inspired start.
Gulsan Jha (24 not out) also chipped in with two towering sixes at a crucial juncture, putting on an unbeaten 73-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Earlier, Bhurtel had a narrow escape when Brad Currie dropped a return catch and the Nepal opener rubbed salt on the wound with a huge six over long-on in the second over.
With their batters being under pressure, Nepal made a rather cautious start but took charge once their eye was in.
Aasif Sheikh (33) opened up with a six over fine leg in the fourth over, and in the next, Bhurtel clattered two sixes and a four off Mark Watt. As many as 23 runs came off Watt as Aasif finished with another powerful hit over square leg.
However, Nepal couldn’t sustain the momentum of raking in big runs as following overs from Scottish spinners saw the pressure building on the batters, resulting in a few wickets.
Bhurtel mishit a sweep off Michael Leask (3/30) and was caught at midwicket for a sparkling 43 off 35 balls with four sixes and a four. Soon after, Aasif went back in the hut when a thick edge off his bat was collected by Brad Wheal at short third off Leask.
Leask appeared to be all over Nepal when he had their skipper Rohit Paudel (16) caught by backward square leg in the 14th over. But in his final over, Airee hammered two on-side sixes and a four to collect 20 runs off the 16th.
Jha completed the formalities with a four off the 20th over, as Nepal won with four balls to spare.
Earlier, Michael Jones’ brisk 71 steered Scotland to a competitive 170 for 7.
Both the teams were out of reckoning for the Super Eights with the West Indies and England advancing to the next round from the group.
Barring Jones, who struck eight fours and three sixes in his 45-ball knock, Scottish batters failed to convert their starts but still managed to finish at a competitive total on a flat deck here.
It was Jones who did the heavy-lifting in his 80-run stand for the opening wicket with George Munsey, who failed to get any momentum despite staying in the middle till the halfway mark of Scotland’s innings.
While the right-handed Jones pierced gaps comfortably and met the ball with the sweet part of his bat to get boundaries at regular intervals, all that Munsey could do was play a second fiddle while managing 27 runs off 29 balls with four boundaries.
Munsey’s frustration of not being able to get a move-on was apparent when he fell on the final ball of the 10th over, connecting with an innocuous full toss from Paudel with the toe end of the bat. The Scottish opener smacked his bat in frustration when Sundeep Jora completed a fine diving catch in front of him at long-on.
But Jora and Nepal appeared to have claimed a skier when McMullen hit one off Nandan Yadav on the first ball of the 14th over.
Positioned at mid-on, Jora did not have to move more than five paces but to his credit, he kept his eyes on the ball. When the ball eventually did come back to him, Jora didn’t realise that it went through his hands and hit the turf while he fell on the ground in the process.
Jones continued to unleash his big hits and smacked a 94m hit straight into the balcony of his dressing room with the ball settling into the hands of his teammate Tom Bruce.
However, Jones’ innings ended soon after when Sompal Kami (3/25), coming round the wicket in the 16th over, cleaned up the Scotland opener and took a brilliant one-handed grab to take a return catch off McMullen.
