Calcuta HC judge may be hesded for impeachment

60 RS members sign pition against justice sen k

New Dehli : At least 60% member of Rajya sabha, cutting across party lines, on
Friday sought impeachment kof justice sumitra sen of colcutta High court for his
alleged involvement in corrupt practices.

The MPs, who include members from BJP, CPI and JD(U), submitted a joitley
signed petition to vice president and chairman of rajya sabha Hamid Ansari to
seek justice sen’s removal’ sources said.

The petition has been based on the reccomendation of chief justicef of india K G
Balakrishnan to PM manmohan singh to initial impeachment against justice sen,
they said.

The Chief Justice of India had reccomanded Justice sen’s removal for alleged
misappropriation of Rs 33 lakh deposited in the calcutta High Court by one of the
parties in a case.

Justice Balakrishnan had said that he was seeking removal of Justice sen as he
had rejected the advice to resign or seeking voluntary retirement after he had
been found guilty of misconduct in an in-house inquiry.

Among those who have signed the petiton are BJ’s sushma suaraj and S S
Ahluwalia, CPM’s sitaram Yechury and Binda Karat, CPI’s D Raja and JD(U) Sharad
Yadav.

Under the the raja sabha rules, a minimu of 50 MPs should sign aresolutionfor
the removal of a high court judge under a provision of the constitution which is
similar to provision that applies to a Supreme court judge.

The resolution for the removal of justice sen has been moved under article
217(removal of high court judge) read with article 124 (removal of SC judge) of
the constiution. A resolution, to be carried, should have the suport of two-thirds
of the majority of the members present and voting each House of parliament.
After this , the president will pass an order for removal. The petition field in the
rajya sabha would survive even even after the Lok Sabha polls.

If taken up, this will be the second such motion to come up in parliament . the
earlier one was the impeschment motion against the then supreme court judge
V Ramaswami, who was a resigned on grounds of misuse of office as a judgeof
the Punjab high court.

But the move was defeated in the lok sabha with members of the ruling congress
voting against the motion moved by majority of the members of parties in the
oppositiion.

Mesnwhile, the cPM asked the congresswhy it did not initiate the proceedings
even after seven months of the Chief Justice of Indiawriting to the government
on the issue.
“The CJI wrote the letter in August last yesr. Why did the Congress itself not take
any action for so long? ... Government should be adked why it did not move
forward. Since they did not, we have taken the initiative ,” CPM leader Sitaram
Yechury said.