President accepts Justice Sen's resignation

Lok Sabha to take up impeachment issue after review by Law Ministry

Justice Sen’s impeachment proceedings was to be taken up by the Lok Sabha on Monday. However, this may now lapse with the President forwarding his resignation letter to the Law Ministry for further action.

The judge, accused of misappropriation of Rs 33.23 lakh   as court receiver when he was a lawyer, sent in his resignation letter for the second time to the president.

He had faxed his resignation letter on Friday and hence was not found in order – a judge should hand over the hand-written letter to the president – and hence was not accepted.

Also, there was confusion over the next stage of impeachment procedure as Attorney General G E Vahanvati fa­voured continuation of the process in Lok Sabha.

AG’s opinion

He based his opinion by referring to Article 124 (4) of the Constitution dealing with the procedure for removal of judges of higher judiciary. He was understood to be of the opinion that Justice Sen should have resigned before the Rajya Sabha took up the removal proceedings.

After accepting the resignation letter delivered by a lawyer to her office, President Patil forwarded the letter to the Law Ministry which sends it to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
The motion of removal against Sen was passed with an overwhelming majority by the Rajya Sabha on August 18.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had said that a decision whether to go ahead with removal proceedings against Sen will be taken after Lok Sabha receives communication from the Law Ministry.

Under the Constitution, there is no acceptance of resignation involved as a resignation letter in order means it is as good as having been accepted.

Sen undecided on LS appearance

Justice Soumitra Sen has not yet decided on appearing in the Lok Sabha if it went ahead with his imp­e­a­chment proceedings on Monday, reports PTI from Kolkata.

Asked whether Justice Sen would appear before the Lower House, which has scheduled the debate on Monday, his la­wyer Subhas Bhattacharya said: “He has not yet decided wh­ether to go or not because of a medical emergency in his family.”

He also said no official communication has been received from the Lok Sabha about the schedule on Monday.

The Lok Sabha has scheduled the motion on September 5 at 2:00 pm.