Parliamentary panel finds high court judge guilty

A Parliamentary panel has found Soumitra Sen, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, guilty of misappropriation of public funds and making false statements.

As per the Judges Inquiry Act, a motion will now have to be moved in both houses of the Parliament – where Sen will have the opportunity to defend himself – for his impeachment. It has to be passed by a two-thirds majority.

Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari had last year constituted a three-member panel to probe charges against the high court judge, following a complaint by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and 57 other MPs.

The panel was headed by Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy, Punjab and Haryana High Court chief justice, Mukul Mudgal and eminent jurist Fali S. Nariman.

Sen has been accused of misappropriating Rs33 lakh of public money when he had been appointed a receiver in a dispute between two state-owned units. The Parliamentary panel found evidence that he had set up two separate accounts, one as 'receiver,' and the other in his own name, and had got about Rs33 lakh between 1993 and 1995.

While Sen has denied all the charges in the past, he refused to appear before the panel. His lawyer, however, told the panel that he had deposited the amount and a division bench of the high court had also cleared him of all wrong-doing about four years ago. But the Parliamentary panel found ''apparent and obvious contradictions'' in Sen's statements.

If both houses of Parliament clear the motion, Sen would be the first judge to be impeached in India. In 1993, animpeachment motion had been moved in Parliament against Justice V Ramaswamy, which was derailed as the Congress Party abstained from voting on it.