Justice Soumitra Sen on Thursday filed his reply to the chairman of Rajya Sabha regarding the findings of the inquiry committee set up by the House, according to the procedure of the impeachment motion.
In his reply Justice Sen challenged the impeachment motion led by the Left MPs and the action of the former chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan.
The report of the inquiry committee was tabled in the House on November 10 and the chairman of Rajya Sabha gave time till December 9 for Sen to file his reply.
The 147-page reply of Justice Sen repudiated the findings of the inquiry committee which held him guilty for misappropriation of a large sum of money in his capacity as receiver appointed by Calcutta High Court and misrepresentation of facts with regard to the misappropriation of money before the court.
Sen’s reply pointed out that a receiver cannot be impeached in Parliament.
The motion and report of the inquiry committee tabled in the House did not mention any amount of money and only stated ‘large sums of money’. So the allegation was vague, said Subash Bhattacharya, the counsel of Justice Sen.
When the allegation of misappropriation of money was vague, there was no question of misrepresentation of facts, he said.
Bhattacharya also said that the division Bench of the Calcutta High Court had exonerated Sen from the charges of misappropriation of money. About 58 MPs of the Rajya Sabha brought the motion on the basis of a letter written by former CJI KG Balakrishnan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the first week of August 2008.