Justice Sen escapes impeachment

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) Having been the first judge to be
impeached by India's Upper House of Parliament (Rajya Sabha),
Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court Monday escaped
a similar fate in the Lower House (Lok Sabha) which
decided not to proceed with his impeachment following his
last-minute resignation.
The Lok Sabha, before which the impeachment business was
listed Monday, dropped it after a 'Sense of the House' was
taken when Law Minister Salman Khurshid conveyed to it
information about Justice Sen's resignation on Sept 1.
The House was to impeach Sen for "misconduct" and
"misappropriation of funds" in the capacity of a Court
Receiver, over which he was impeached overwhelmingly by the
Rajya Sabha on Aug 18.
When the House met at 2 PM to take up the business
relating to Sen, Khurshid made a brief statement in which he
said "I have to bring 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."
Speaker Meira Kumar then sought the sense of the House
to drop the proceedings against Sen.
"Is it the sense of the House that we may not proceed
with agenda item no. 12," she asked. Members responded by saying after which she declared
that the "House agrees".
That the Lok Sabha may not go ahead with the impeachment
was clear Sunday when Indian President Pratibha Patil approved
the notification on Sen's resignation.
This morning the government decided against going ahead
with the impeachment business at a meeting Finance Minister
and Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee had with Khurshid
and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Earlier, the Speaker also held consultations with the
government and political parties on the issue.
After reports that Justice Sen had sent his resignation
by fax, 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.
But on Saturday after the resignation under the hand of
the judge was received by President's House (Rashtrapati
Bhawan), sources close to the AG had said that the matter was
over and the impeachment would have to lapse.
The first opinion of the AG was 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.