Justice Soumitra Sen's impeachment proceedings not unconstitutional: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today refused to declare the impeachment proceedings that was initiated against former Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen as unconstitutional.

A bench headed by Justice Aftab Aslam dismissed a PIL filed by an advocate who was junior to Sen when he was a practicing lawyer.

The bench while refusing to entertain the petition filed by Subhasish Chakraborthy said that it cannot interfere with the Parliament's proceedings.

The impeachment process, however, could not be concluded as the high court judge resigned before 5 days the matter was to be taken up in the Lok Sabha.

The petitioner however alleged that the proceedings against Sen were arbitrary and unconstitutional in nature and they should be quashed.

The bench, however, was not satisfied with his submissins and therefore dismissed the petition.

Impeachment proceedings against Sen were initiated for his alleged irregularities and misconduct. An Inquiry Committee, set up by the Rajya Sabha Chairman, had held Sen guilty of misconduct.

Rajya Sabha had passed a motion against Sen,the first Judge who had been impeached by the Upper House of the Parliament for misconduct.

Sen, however, had faxed his resignation letter to the President Pratibha Patil on September 1, five days before the process was to be taken up in the Lok Sabha.

Sen was found guilty of misappropriating Rs.33.23 lakh under his custody as a court-appointed receiver in the capacity as a lawyer and misrepresenting facts before a Calcutta court in a 1983 case.

News reported by AR for Newsvision

President accepts Sen's resignation, impeachment unlikely

Government on Sunday notified the resignation of Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court, strengthening the speculation that the impeachment proceedings against him in the Lok Sabha scheduled for Monday may be accepted, but there was no official confirmation of such a move.

Justice Soumitra Sen's resignation after he had been impeached by the Rajya Sabha last month and similar proceedings in the Lok Sabha has created a strong situation for the government.

The predominant view is that the legal proceedings in the Lower House has been rendered infructuous by the Judge Soumitra Sen's resignation but some voices in the political spectrum still favour going ahead with the process.

In the normal case, such a resignation is not required since a resignation of a constitutional authority is deemed to be accepeted if its in order.

Official sources said that the Department of Justice has sent a notification for the assent of the President for accepting Justice Soumitra Sen's resignation which was signed after she was arrived from Hydrebad.

Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar was being informed about the developments and also she may consult various political parties before taking a final call prior to the meeting of the House on Monday.

News Reported by AR for Newsvision newspaper blog

Legal luminaries excel in Rajya Sabha debate on Sen’s impeachment

Legal luminiaries including Ram Jethmalani and Arun Jaitley showed their acumen on the floor of the Rajya Sabha in demolishing the defence of Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court facing impeachment. After a two day debate, the Upper House today passed the impeachment motion against Soumitra Sen creating History.

Of seventeen members who participated in the brainstorming debate, eleven of them were the lawyers of repute. Jethmalani (BJP) said Soumitra Sen's eloquence was a property of charlatans and advised members not to get influenced by the glib-talk of the Judge.

Jaitley too tore into Soumitra Sen's defence, saying he did not deserve to occupy the high position. Yesterday, while defending himself, Soumitra Sen said that he expected the elected representatives to come to his support, many of whom were lawyers.

EM Sudarsana Natchiappan (Cong) who too is a lawye, supported the motions saying he felt sorry the way in which the serving judge was attacking the judiciary as such words were never used in the Parliament. Other well-known lawyers who participated in the debate included Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), Ravi Shanker Prasad (BJP), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), YP Trivedi (NCP), Kishore Mohanty (BJD), Paul Manoj Pandian( AIADMK), Kumar Deepak Das (AGP) and Ranjniti Prasad (RJD).

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, present during most of the debate, keenly listened to the lawyer members articulating their views about the Constitution and the fine-prints of several laws.  

 News By, SM for News Vision, Online news blog.