Request to drop Nariman

Soumitra Sen, the Calcutta High Court judge accused of misconduct, has written to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari requesting that eminent jurist Fali S. Nariman be removed from the three-member panel entrusted with handling his impeachment. It was confirmed by Sen’s lawyer Subhas Bhattacharya that this had indeed been done though his client had the highest personal regard for Nariman, The Times of India (TOI) reported on June 29, 2009.

The request to drop Nariman from the impeachment panel had been made because he had already spoken out his mind on the matter. "It has come to our notice that Nariman has publicly expressed his opinion that Justice Sen should be impeached,” Bhattacharya informed TOI. In his letter to Ansari, the lawyer stated: "Justice Sen has serious apprehension about the biasness (sic) of Nariman in the matter and I also feel that his presence in the committee will go against the spirit and purpose of the Constitution of India.”

The TOI report reveals that on February 20, 2009 the Rajya Sabha had adopted a motion moved by 57 members for the removal of the judge for "misappropriating large sums of money which he received in his capacity as receiver appointed by the high court and misrepresenting facts with regard to the misappropriation before the high court.” After the motion was adopted, the panel was set up on March 21 with Nariman and two sitting judges under the Judges (Enquiry) Act, 1968.

In addition to Nariman, the two other members of the panel are Supreme Court Judge B. Sudershan Reddy and Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, The Indian Express (IE) mentioned in its edition dated June 28, 2009. When contacted by IE, Nariman said he would not like to comment at this juncture. "I will say whatever I have to say only when the Rajya Sabha wants me to,” he stated.