Kolkata: Justice Soumitra Sen, against whom the Rajya Sabha has passed an impeachment resolution, resigned Thursday as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, his lawyer said.

He sent his resignation letter to President Pratibha Patil with a copy to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. The Lok Sabha was scheduled to take up the impeachment proceedings against Sen Sep 5.

"He sent his resignation letter to the president of India with a copy to the Lok Sabha speaker," Justice Sen's lawyer Subhash Bhattacharya told IANS.

Asked what led him to resign, Bhattacharya said, "He (Sen) had not expected the voting pattern in the Rajya Sabha to go that way (in favour of his impeachment). The voting pattern in the Lok Sabha will be the same. He resigned as he has a right to resign."

"But our fight has not ended. We still have the option to move the court", he added.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat had informed Justice Sen about the scheduled proceedings and asked him to appear at 3 p.m. Sep 5 to present his case before the house.

Now that Justice Sen has resigned, the Lok Sabha cannot proceed with impeachment motion against him.

On Aug 18, the Rajya Sabha moved the impeachment motion and it was adopted with 189 members voting in favour and 17 against it.

Except for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), all other parties which took part in the "historic" debate on the motion in the Rajya Sabha, stretching for six hours over two days, spoke in its favour.

Justice Sen is only the second judge to face such proceedings. Subject to the motion being passed by the lower house, Justice Sen would have become the country's first judge whose removal had been sought by parliament for misconduct.

Justice Sen, then an advocate, was held guilty of misappropriating Rs.33.23 lakh in a 1983 case, while he was appointed a receiver by the high court.

He denied the allegations during his hearing in the Rajya Sabha.

 

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