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.
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Heavy rains set off flash floods in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 50 people
Islamabad (AP): Flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan killed at least 50 people on Friday, a Taliban official said.
The floods also caused losses to homes and property in several districts, according to Edayatullah Hamdard, the provincial director of Natural Disaster Management in Baghlan. He said that the death toll was preliminary and that it "might rise as many people are missing”.
The flash floods also hit the capital, Kabul, said Abdullah Janan Saiq, the Taliban's spokesman for the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management. He said that rescue teams bringing food and other aid have been dispatched to the affected areas.
Saiq said that the rescue operation is the main focus of authorities at the moment, and that he later might be able to provide more precise figures on casualties and damage.
In April, at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country. About 2,000 homes, three mosques, and four schools were damaged last month. Thousands of people require humanitarian assistance. The flooding also damaged agriculture land and 2,500 animals died in the deluges, according to Saiq.
