SC Judge to probe corruption charges against Justice Sen

The sitting Supreme Court Judge Justice D K Jain will chair a three-member committee appointed by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to investigate the allegations of corruption against Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court whose removal by impeachment was recommended by the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan in August last year through a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Two other members of the committee are Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and eminent jurist and constitution expert F S Nariman, a former Attorney General of India.

Justice Sen, who was appointed as High Court judge in 2003 is facing allegations of misappropriation of about Rs 32 lakh when he was appointed a receiver by the court, and was a lawyer in a dispute between Shipping Corporation of India and Steel Authority of India Limited.

CBI had written a letter to the Prime Minister on August 4 last year when justice Sen refused to go by the advice of the CBI to quit on his own.

Union Law Minister M Veerapa Moily is learnt to have met Vice-President Hamid Ansari with a request to expedite the investigation by the three-member committee so that the impeachment proceedings against Justice Sen can be speeded.

CBI has also taken serious note of increasing incidents of corruption in the higher echelons of the Indian judiciary coming to light and has decided to set its house in order with an iron hand.

Another judge of Punjab and Haryana High court Justice Nirmal Yadav is also facing allegation of receiving illegal gratification of Rs 15 lakh from a Delhi-based hotelier Ravindrapal Singh and is facing an inquiry by a committee appointed by the CBI.

Judicial work has been withdrawn from both Justice Sen and Justice Nirmal Yadav.

Recent exposures by media showing that cases can be fixed before the bench of the choice of litigant and favourable orders can be obtained for a price in Punjab and Haryana High Court have also rattled the judiciary.