The Rajya Sabha created history on Thursday by adopting an impeachment motion to remove the Judge of Calcutta High Court, Justice Soumitera Sen from the post for misappropriation of funds and misrepresentation of facts. The motion moved by Sitaram Yechuri of the CPIM was adopted by more than two-third of the members present in the House. The Chairman of the House, Mr. Mohd. Hamid Ansari announced that 189 members voted in favour of the motion and 17 against.

Participating in the two-day debate, the members cutting across party lines, called for judicial reforms and setting up of a Judicial Commission for transparency and effective functioning of the judicial system. The debate on the motion was initiated by leader of the opposition in the House, Mr. Arun Jaitley who tore into the Justice Somitera Sen’s defence, saying that the latter had misled the House. Continuing his argument Mr Jaitley, said that he had gone through the entire evidence in the judge’s case and found it to be in tandem with the inquiry that proved misappropriation of funds by the Judge. Justice Sen of the Calcutta High Court had, in his defence, on Wednesday asserted that he was not guilty of financial irregularities and the allegations of misconduct and misappropriation of funds against him were aimed at victimising him in a pre-determined move. The House resumed discussion on the motion Thursday afternoon. Opposing the motion Satish Mishra of BSP put across his argument making a case in his defence. Members from different political parties including ruling and opposition participated in the debate to support the motion.

A special committee constituted by Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari had found charges of financial irregularities against Justice Sen to be correct. He is accused of misappropriating nearly 24 lakh rupees in the 1990s when he was a lawyer and was appointed receiver by the Calcutta High Court. AIR correspondent reports that this is the second time that an impeachment motion for removal of a Judge has been taken up by Parliament. In 1993, the Lok Sabha took up the motion to remove Justice V.Ramaswamy of Supreme Court but the motion fell through.