New Delhi, November 10
Indicted by an inquiry committee, Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen could become the first high court judge in the country to be impeached, provided the motion is carried by both houses of the Parliament with at least 66% of the members supporting it in each House.

The only other attempt at impeachment against Supreme Court judge , V. Ramaswamy, fell through in 1993 when the Congress abstained from voting.

In Kolkata, Sen’s lawyer and spokesman Subhas Bhattacharya said there was no question of Justice Sen tendering his resignation. Although the result, he said, was expected, “ we will fight against the findings”.

The judge, however, furnished no document or evidence in his defence; nor did he appear before the panel to explain his conduct.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman had constituted the inquiry committee following an impeachment motion moved by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and 57 other members of the Upper House, seeking Justice Sen’s removal on charges of misappropriating Rs 33 lakh which he had received in 1993-95 in his capacity as the court’s receiver before his appointment as a Judge. Justice Sen (53) was elevated to the bench in 2003.

While the three-member inquiry committee, set up by the Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari last year, held Justice guilty in its report submitted last month, the report was made public today after it was tabled in Parliament, indicating the resolve to move the process of impeachment during the current session. Under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, the impeachment motion would have to be voted in the same session at which the inquiry report is tabled.

The three-member panel headed by Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy held that the judge had indeed misappropriated “large sums of money” and made “false statements” in a bid to wriggle himself out of the charge.

In its findings, the committee noted that both the charges of misappropriation and misrepresentation of facts were “duly proved.”

In view of the findings, the inquiry committee “is of the opinion that Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta HC is guilty of misbehaviour under Article 124(4) read with proviso (b) to Article 217(1) of the Constitution of India.”

The committee also included Punjab and Haryana HC Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and noted jurist Fali S Nariman.

Once the impeachment motion is approved by Parliament, it would be sent to the President for removing Sen as a Judge of the HC. Justice Sen would be given an opportunity to defend himself in Parliament before the motion is put to vote.

Impeachment procedure is also pending against Sikkim High Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran on the charges of land grab and other judicial misconduct. Another inquiry panel, headed by Justice Aftab Alam of the SC, is inquiring into the charges.