New Delhi:
Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court may have resigned but the Lok Sabha will continue with the impeachment proceedings against him on Monday.
The Raya Sabha voted in favour of his impeachment a few weeks ago, on account of corruption. Yesterday, the judge faxed his resignation to President Pratibha Patil and sent a copy to the Lok Sabha speaker, Meira Kumar. However, the Attorney General has advised that the impeachment process should not be abandoned. So the Lok Sabha will debate the charges against Justice Sen and then vote on whether to impeach him.
Sources say Justice Sen will not defend himself, or depute a lawyer to represent him.
Justice Sen, who is with the Calcutta High Court, has said he is innocent. His resignation was seen as an attempt to avoid becoming the first judge to be impeached by the Indian parliament.
Justice Sen has been accused of misappropriating 33 lakhs in 1983 when he was made a receiver of the court. He did not disclose this when he was made a judge in 2003. He was ordered to return the money with interest in 2006 by the Calcutta High Court. In 2008, then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan asked him to quit, but he refused.