Supreme court rejects plea to impeach CJI

The supreme court on Friday dismissed lawyer PA Chandran’s petition seeking the impeachment of the chief justice of India, Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishanan, on the grounds that he did not fulfil the basic requirement for appointment as high court judge.

It is mandatory for a person to have served a minimum of 10 years as a district judge or put in 10 years as an advocate before he/she can be elevated to the high court, the Kerala-based lawyer said in his petition.

A bench of justices RV Raveendran and B Sudershan Reddy asked Chandran why he has filed the complaint 24 years after Balakrishnan’s appointment to the high court. Chandran, who hails from Balakrishnan’s home state Kerala, said the CJI was illegally appointed to the Kerala high court in 1985.

The first Dalit CJI, Balakrishnan, was elevated to the supreme judicial position on January 14, 2007. He is due to retire on May 12, 2010.