New Delhi, April 23: Hours after Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Presiding Officer of the Rajya Sabha, rejected the impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra moved by the Congress-les Opposition, the party said it will move the Supreme Court to challenge Naidu's order.

Congress veteran Kapil Sibal accused Naidu of acting in a "partisan manner", despite heading a post which requires "utmost constitutional integrity". Sibal said the manner in which Naidu rejected their motion raises doubt "whether he even considered our petition".

"Why the Vice President was acting in such a hurry? Why has he not even sought legal opinion before deciding on our motion," he said.

Sibal said the party would unconditionally accept what the Supreme Court decides on their impeachment motion, provided that the Chief Justice of India is neither a part of the hearing bench nor takes a call on allocating the case.

"We will certainly file a petition (in Supreme Court) against this and would want the CJI to not take any decision with respect to it, be it the listing or anything else," he said, adding, "We will accept whatever the SC decides."

The impeachment motion against Justice Misra was moved by 71 MPs from the Opposition camp on Friday, a day after the CJI-led bench dismissed the petitions seeking an independent inquiry into Justice B H Loya's death.

In the impeachment motion against the CJI, the party has listed his alleged involvement in Prasad Medical College bribery case, apart from the land-grabbing charges against him dating back to 1979. However, Justice Misra has not been booked or officially named in any of the police complaints related to the two cases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2018 04:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).