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Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010
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Report on Justice Sen to be tabled in Lok Sabha today

J. Venkatesan

Sudershan Reddy panel probed misappropriation charges against him

Second instance of Parliament initiating proceedings for removal of judge
Never did Sen present himself before committee

New Delhi: The Centre will table in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday the report of Justice B. Sudershan Reddy Committee, which probed “misappropriation” charges against Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen in the removal proceedings initiated by Parliament.

Justice Sudershan Reddy presented the report to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on September 10.

The committee, which included Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and jurist Fali Nariman, was constituted by the Chairman under Section 3 (2) of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 on March 20, 2009 “for the purpose of making an investigation into the grounds on which the removal of Justice Sen is prayed for, through a motion by Shri Sitaram Yechury and 56 other members of the Rajya Sabha. As per the provisions of the Act, the report of the Committee will have to be laid before each House of Parliament.”

The charge against Justice Sen was that when he was lawyer, he collected Rs.33,22,800 from a purchaser of goods and kept it in a savings bank account and misrepresented facts to the High Court. The case is the second in the history of the country in which Parliament has initiated proceedings for removal of a judge (the first one involved Justice V. Ramaswami).

Though the charges did not pertain to Justice Sen's judicial conduct, the question before the committee, headed by Justice Sudershan Reddy of the Supreme Court, was whether such a person, who could not continue even as lawyer as argued by counsel for the panel, was entitled to hold the high office of judge.

‘Right of silence'

Throughout the removal proceedings, Justice Sen did not present himself before the committee and only his lawyer argued the case. When the committee wanted to know why he was not presenting himself before it, counsel claimed the “right of silence” as valid defence. It was argued that there was no obligation under the law for Justice Sen to come to the witness box and give evidence, when the probe pertained to his conduct as a court receiver, and not as judge.

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