Lok Sabha drops Sen impeachment
The Lok Sabha on Monday decided not to proceed with the motion to impeach Calcutta High Court judge Justice Soumitra Sen as he had already resigned.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar took “the sense of the House” and dropped the impeachment proceedings after Law Minister Salman Khurshid informed the Lok Sabha about Justice Sen’s resignation.
Earlier in the day, the Speaker held consultations with the representatives of the government and political parties on the issue.
As the House met at 2:00 pm, when the proceedings were scheduled to be taken up, Khurshid made a brief statement saying that Justice Sen had resigned with effect from September 1. “I have to bring it to the notice of the Speaker and this House that Justice Soumitra Sen, judge of the Calcutta High Court, has resigned from office under Proviso 1(a) of Article 217 of the Constitution,” Khurshid said.
The Speaker then sought the sense of the House to drop the proceedings. “Is it the sense of the House that we may not proceed with agenda item no 12, “she asked. Members responded by saying “yes,” prompting her to say the “House agrees”. The motion to impeach Justice Sen was passed with an overwhelming majority by the Rajya Sabha on August 18.
