New Delhi, Sep 5 : Justice Soumitra Sen today escaped impeachment by the Lok Sabha which dropped the proceedings against him taking into consideration his resignation as judge of the Calcutta High Court.
The proceedings, listed for the afternoon, were dropped by taking sense of the House after Law Minister Salman Khurshid informed the Lok Sabha about Justice Sen's resignation. The House was to take up impeachment proceedings against Sen for “misconduct” and “misappropriation of funds” in the capacity of a Calcutta High Court receiver. As the House met 2:00 PM when the proceedings were scheduled to be taken up, Khurshid made a brief statement saying that Justice Sen had resigned with effect from September one.
“I have to bring it to the notice of the Speaker and this House that Justice Soumitra Sen, judge of the Calcutta High Court has resigned from office under Proviso 1(a) of Article 217 of the Constitution,” Khurshid said. Speaker Meira Kumar then sought the sense of the House to drop the proceedings against Justice Sen. “Is it the sense of the House that we may not proceed with agenda item no. 12,” she asked.
Members responded by saying ‘yes' prompting her to say that the “House agrees”.
The Rajya Sabha has approved the impeachment of Justice Sen on August 18.
The decision was taken at a meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had with Khurshid and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Earlier in the day, the Speaker also held consultations with the government and political parties on the issue. “I have to consult because there have been new developments,” the Speaker told reporters outside Parliament before the House commenced.
Although the government had yesterday notified the resignation of Justice Sen, the matter continued to be on today's List of Business of the Lok Sabha. In the normal course, such a notification is not required since the resignation of a constitutional authority is deemed to be accepted if it is in order.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati had opined on Friday that impeachment proceedings, having already been completed in the Rajya Sabha, should be completed by the other House. The opinion appeared to be based on the premise that the resignation letter faxed by Sen to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday could not be taken cognisance of since such letters must be hand-written by the judge as per Art 217 (a) of the Constitution.
Sen had later sent his hand-written letter to the President on Saturday paving the way for dropping the impeachment motion against him in Lok Sabha.
In Kolkata, Justice Soumitra Sen's lawyer said: “We respectfully accept the stand taken by the Lok Sabha as impeachment cannot be proceeded against a retired judge.”
Justice Sen's counsel Subhash Bhattacharya said: “We also expected that impeachment motion may not have been initiated against a receiver,” adding that the allegations against Sen dated to his days as a lawyer and a court-appointed receiver.
“The allegations dates back to 10 years before his elevation as a judge in 2003,” he said. Justice Sen, when contacted, refused to comment. Sen was found guilty of misappropriating Rs 33.23 lakh under his custody as a court-appointed receiver in his capacity as a lawyer, and misrepresenting facts before a Calcutta court in a 1993 case.
The Rajya Sabha had on August 18 passed the impeachment motion against Sen and the Lok Sabha was to take up the motion today. Sen had sent his hand-written resignation to the President on Saturday. PTI
