National

Sen committed impropriety, has to go: Balakrishnan

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan has informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court committed impropriety, warranting his removal from office.

As per the procedure, a motion for removal of a judge has to be initiated by at least 100 members of the Lok Sabha or 50 members of the Rajya Sabha. Once the motion is accepted, a committee will be appointed to probe the allegations against the judge. If he is proved guilty, the committee will recommend his removal and the motion will have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. After the motion is adopted, the judge will stand removed from office.

The Chief Justice of India, in his letter, informed the Prime Minister that Justice Sen rejected the advice to resign or seek voluntary retirement after he was found guilty of misconduct in an in-house inquiry. Before his elevation as High Court judge in 2003, he was an advocate and was appointed receiver in a suit filed by the Steel Authority of India against the Shipping Corporation of India. He collected Rs. 33,22,800 from the purchaser of goods and kept it in his savings bank account with a bank.

A single judge, who heard the case, concluded that Mr. Sen had converted and appropriated the amount without court authority and his conduct was nothing short of criminal misappropriation. In 2006, Justice Sen deposited Rs. 57,65,204, the amount received by him as receiver along with interest.

On receipt of a report from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, the Chief Justice of India set up a three-member committee, which concluded that “Justice Sen did not have honest intention right from the year 1993 since he mixed the money [he] received as a receiver and his personal money and converted the receiver’s money to his own use. There has been misappropriation (at least temporarily) of sale proceeds; mere monetary recompense under the compulsion of a judicial order does not obliterate the breach of trust and misappropriation of receiver’s funds for his personal gain, and the conduct of Justice Sen brought disrepute to the high judicial office and dishonour to the institution of judiciary, undermining the faith and confidence reposed by the public in the administration of justice. In the opinion of the committee, the misconduct disclosed is so serious that it calls for initiation of proceedings for his removal.”

On February 25, Justice Sen made a representation seeking reconsideration of the decision and sought a personal hearing which was granted on March 16 before a collegium consisting of the Chief Justice of India and Justices B. N. Agrawal and Ashok Bhan. The collegium, in terms of the in-house procedure, reiterated the advice given to Justice Sen to submit his resignation or seek voluntary retirement on or before April 2 but the judge ignored it, the Chief Justice of India said and recommended his removal under Article 217 (1) read with Article 124 (4) of the Constitution.

Reacting to the letter of the Chief Justice of India, Law Minister Bhardwaj said: “It is a matter of great concern. Since the CJI himself has recommended removal [of Justice Sen], we have no option but to initiate the procedure for removal. If some judge who fails to resign and does not honour the dignity of the office, there is no other way except to remove him. The government is already thinking of bringing in a law to put in place a permanent mechanism to deal with grievances against judges. The Judges (Inquiry) Bill 2006, which was referred to a parliamentary standing committee, is pending and we are trying to get amendments incorporated and come back to Parliament.”

Talking to journalists, eminent lawyer Fali Nariman said: “By writing this letter to the Prime Minister, the CJI has taken the initiative and the ball is now in the court of the political establishment. The CJI has shown the way that the judiciary can act.”

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