New Delhi: Rajya Sabha (RS) Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu today rejected the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra by seven opposition parties.

“The motion presented by the MPs indicates a mere suspicion, conjecture or an assumption in the Prasad Education Trust case. The same does not  constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt required to make out a case of proved misbehaviour,” says the order by Naidu, who is also the Vice-President of India.

The order said the conversation between third parties with dubious credentials cannot themselves constitute material evidence against CJI. “Going through the allegations mentioned in the notice, I am of the view they are neither tenable nor admissible. The allegations emerging from the case have a serious tendency of undermining the independence of the judiciary,” it added.

On Sunday, the Vice-President had cut short his visit to Hyderabad and returned to the national capital to set in motion the process of consultations after an impeachment notice was filed against the CJI.

According to sources, Naidu held deliberations with a number of constitutional and legal experts, including Attorney General K.K. Venugopal. He also spoke to Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, P.K. Malhotra, former Law Secretary, Sanjay Singh, former Legislative Secretary and senior officials of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. He is also likely to meet former SC Judge Sudarshan Reddy, sources said.

They also said that Naidu continued with the discussions till late in the evening and also spoke to K. Parasaran, who was the Attorney General during the Congress govts. led by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and was also a member to the Upper House nominated by the party.

Subhash Kashyap, who was consulted by the Vice-President, said that he feels the notice should be rejected out rightly.

This comes after Congress and six other Opposition parties on Apr.20 moved a notice for the impeachment of CJI Dipak Misra, accusing him of five counts of “misbehaviour” and “misusing” authority.