58 MPs file petition seeking removal of Calcutta judge

New Delhi, Feb 20 (ANI): Fifty Eight Rajya Sabha members on Friday filed a petition before the House Chairman seeking the removal of Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen on grounds of financial misconduct.

Members of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), Communist Party of India (CPI), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Janta Dal (United) submitted a petition to House Chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

Sen was allegedly found to have indulged in financial misconduct prior to his elevation as High Court judge in December, 2003, when he was a practicing lawyer, in an internal inquiry held by Chief Justice of India on the matter.

In a lawsuit between Steel Authority of India Ltd and Shipping Corporation of India, Sen is said to have received Rs. 32 lakh as court-appointed receiver and accused of depositing the amount in his personal account.

If Sen is impeached, it will be an unprecedented event. The previous attempted impeachment of Justice V. Ramaswamy in 1991 failed to pass muster in the Lok Sabha as the then Narasimha Rao government failed to take a position on the issue. (ANI)