Impeachment of judge to come up in Rajya Sabha today

Sen, 53, will be the first judge against whom impeachment proceedings will be taken up in the Upper House.

The procedures will be initiated when the Upper House takes up motion which will be moved by CPM member Sitaram Yechury. The notice for the motion was given by Yechury last week.

Besides Yechury, the motion will be moved by his party colleague Prasanta Chatterjee and Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley. The proceedings come in the backdrop of the inquiry committee set up by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari which found Sen guilty of “misappropriation of large sums of money” which he received in his capacity as a receiver appointed by the Calcutta High Court and misrepresenting facts with regard to it. He was a lawyer at that time.

Sen will be given 90 minutes at the outset to put forth his defence either personally or through his counsel in the Rajya Sabha. This will be followed by a four-hour discussion which will continue on August 18. The House will be converted into a court room for the proceedings which will start at 3 pm.

According to sources, a  bar will be created at the gate of the central aisle of the House facing the chairman. A rostrum and a chair will be placed for Justice Sen or his counsel to present his case before the MPs. According to the Judges Inquiry Act, 1968, a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a high court can only be removed through impeachment by both Houses of Parliament with a two-thirds majority of MPs present and voting in favour of the motion.

The motion should also be passed by the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session, which ends on September 8, and presented to the President. If Sen resigns before the RS takes up the proceedings, the motion will become infructuous.