Soumitra Sen is a former judge of the Calcutta High Court. He was the first judge in independent India whose removal motion was passed in

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

for

misappropriation In law, misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another's name, likeness, identity, property, discoveries, inventions, etc without that person's permission, resulting in harm to that person. Another use of the word refers to intentional a ...

of funds.

History

He was born on 22 January 1958. He passed the

High School Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

Examination from the Don Bosco High School, Guwahati in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. Later he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Gauhati Commerce College, an affiliated college of

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assem ...

. He also pursued a law degree (LL.B.) from the University College of Law, of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...

. He would later enroll as an Advocate on 13 February 1984. He practiced in civil and constitutional matters in both the Original Side and Appellate Side of the High Court at Calcutta and was elevated as a permanent Judge of the High Court at Calcutta on 3 December 2003.

Allegation

Justice Sen has been bearing the allegation of appropriating Rs 32 lakh as a court-appointed receiver in 1993 in a lawsuit between

Steel Authority of India Limited Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector undertaking based in New Delhi, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India with an annual turnover of INR 1,03,480 Crore (US$13 billion) for fis ...

(SAIL) and

Shipping Corporation of India The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is a government corporation that operates and manages vessels servicing both national and international lines. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, with its headquart ...

over supply of fire bricks. The Chief Justice recommendation was made shortly after a three-judge inquiry committee had established Sen's

misconduct Misconduct is wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. It is an act which is forbidden or a failure to do that which is required. Misc ...

in depositing the money in his personal account. Sen retained the money even after being appointed the High Court judge in 2003. It was in 2006 after HC order, he returned money.

Removal

Justice Sen was held guilty of misappropriation of public funds he received in his capacity as receiver appointed by the High Court of Calcutta and misrepresenting facts with regard to it by a committee of three judges set up by former CJI

K. G. Balakrishnan Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan (born 12 May 1945) is an Indian judge who has been the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India. He is a former Chief Justice of India. He was the first judge from Kerala to become the C ...

in 2007. A year later, Justice Balakrishnan recommended his impeachment to the PM, after which a legal opinion obtained by the law ministry endorsed the judges' committee report. In 2009, 58 MPs of the Rajya Sabha moved a motion for impeachment of Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen for his involvement in financial misappropriation. Probe panel was set up by Rajya Sabha chairman

Hamid Ansari Hamid refers to two different but related Arabic given names, both of which come from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D (ِِح-م-د): # (Arabic: حَامِد ''ḥāmid'') also spelled Haamed, Hamid or Hamed, and in Turkish Hamit; i ...

in February 2009. It was headed by SC judge Justice B Sudershan Reddy and had as its members Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice

Mukul Mudgal Justice Mukul Mudgal is a retired Indian judge of Delhi High Court, and remained Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court from 2009 to 2011.Fali S. Nariman. The Committee said the charges were duly proved. The report of the three-member committee, placed in both Houses of Parliament, said it was of the opinion that Justice Sen was 'guilty of misbehaviour' under Article 124(4) read with proviso (b) to Article 217(1) of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. Article 124(4) when read with proviso (b) to Article 217(1) states that a judge of a high court shall not be removed from his office except on the grounds of 'proved misbehaviour'. The prefix 'proved' only means proved to the satisfaction of requisite majority of Parliament, if so recommended by the inquiry committee. The report said the oral and documentary evidence had established that two separate accounts were opened by Justice Sen as "receiver" in his own name and a total sum aggregating to Rs 33, 22, 800 being the sale proceeds of goods were brought into the two accounts between 24 March 1993 and 5 May 1995. The indictment of Sen paved way for Parliament to take up the impeachment of the judge who had been found guilty of collecting Rs 33,22,800 from a purchaser of goods, keeping it in a savings bank account and misrepresenting facts to the high court. Subash Bhattacharya the lawyer of Justice Soumitra Sen said that his client is innocent and he will prove he is innocent. As per the Judges Inquiry Act, the motion was moved in the Rajya Sabha and debated upon. Sen was given an opportunity to defend himself through his counsel. On 18 August 2011,

passed the impeachment motion by overwhelming majority of 189 votes in favour and 17 against. This is the second case in the history of the country in which Parliament has initiated proceedings for removal of a judge. The first involved V. Ramaswami.

Resignation

Ahead of the impeachment motion against him in the Lok Sabha on 5 & 6 September 2011, he resigned on 1 September 2011. In his resignation letter he said that, ''"Since the Rajya Sabha has decided in its wisdom that he should not continue as a judge, he has decided not to go to the Lok Sabha, and put in his papers instead. He also would not go to the Supreme Court as he has no confidence on it."'' However Supreme Court has the power to review the decision made by the three-member committee formed by Speaker on the grounds of proved misbehaviour and incapacity. If it's not found appropriate in terms of misbehaviour and incapacity he can be restored as a judge and no further impeachment motion can be started before 6 months unless the judge has been found guilty by the court. Later, Lok Sabha decided to drop the impeachment proceedings against him because he had resigned. On 15 Jan 2012, it became public through an RTI query that Justice Sen along with his other colleague facing similar accusations Justice

P. D. Dinakaran Paul Daniel Dinakaran Premkumar (born 9 May 1950) was the Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court. He resigned from the post following allegations of corruption and subsequent removal proceedings. Childhood and education P.D Dinakaran was bo ...

will keep getting their post-retirement benefits, even though they resigned ahead of impeachment proceedings against them, as there are no Constitutional or statutory provisions restricting their entitlements in such a scenario.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Soumitra 1958 births Living people 20th-century Indian judges Gauhati University alumni University of Calcutta alumni Don Bosco schools alumni Impeached Indian officials Judges of the Calcutta High Court

History

Allegation

Removal

Resignation

See also

References