Soumitra Sen may give LS impeachment motion a miss

Uncertainty prevails over the presence of Calcutta high court judge Soumitra Sen when the Lok Sabha will take up the impeachment motion against him on September 5 and 6. Nagendar Sharma reports.

Uncertainty prevails over the presence of Calcutta high court judge Soumitra Sen when the Lok Sabha will take up the impeachment motion against him on September 5 and 6.

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The Lok Sabha secretariat had asked Justice Sen to confirm his presence in the House by Tuesday evening, but he has sought more time.

The monsoon session is scheduled to end on September 8 and for the impeachment motion to succeed, it has to be passed by both Houses in the same session. The Rajya Sabha had passed the motion on August 18.

"We have been informed by the lawyer of Justice Sen that the judge will confirm his participation by Thursday, since his son is not well," said a Lok Sabha official. "In case Justice Sen does not confirm his participation, we would be let with no option other than to proceed in his absence," the official said.

Justice Sen declined to comment saying he was preoccupied with his son's ailment.

His lawyer Subhash Bhattacharya said a "proper public response would be given at an appropriate time."

Justice Sen, who is the first judge in India's history to have been impeached by the Rajya Sabha and faces a strong likelihood of the same being repeated in the Lok Sabha, is learnt to be unhappy with not having been given a chance to rebut the allegations made in the House.

He has been indicted for misappropriation of public funds amounting to Rs 32 lakh, which he got as a court appointed receiver in a dispute between two public sector undertakings in 1984.