New Delhi:
There has been much talk about the corruption in the Cabinet, in the Maharashtra politics and now there is corruption in the judiciary.
A Rajya Sabha panel has found Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen guilty of misappropriating large sums of public funds that clears the way for impeachment proceedings to begin against him.
Now, if the majority of Parliament agrees then for the first time in India's history a judge maybe removed from office by impeachment.
(Read: Sen, only the second judge to face impeachment)
But the Parliament has never impeached a sitting judge.
"For the first time an impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha has been admitted. The report on that motion has been submitted and laid on the table of the house. The procedure now is that on the basis of that report I will have to move a motion in the House," said CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury.
Parliament sources say the Rajya Sabha chairman wants to go by the rule book and will put the impeachment motion to vote in this session.
The Rajya Sabha Business Advisory Committee will meet tomorrow to fix a date.
For the government, the Inquiry report - indicting Justice Soumitro Sen - is ill timed.
It gives the Left and the Right, an issue to unite.
To succeed in impeaching a judge, the motion needs numbers in the Rajya Sabha.
It should have two third of the members present.
The votes have to be more than 50 per cent of the actual strength of the houses.
The number game hinges totally on what the Congress will do.
In may 1993 when Justice V Ramaswamy's impeachment motion - the first in Indian history came for vote - the Congress abstained.
The congress will hope and pray that Justice Soumitro Sen steps down - and the impeachment motion is never taken up.
"Whether it is the Legislature, the Executive, the Judiciary or any other public office we would certainly like to see that the highest standards of integrity and accountability are maintained," said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.
The stakes for the government are high.
If justice Sen doesn't step down, the Congress has two options both fraught with risks.
Going with the impeachment motion may pit the government against the judiciary.
If it doesn't back the motion - the opposition will claim the Congress is backing out on yet another corruption issue.