New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil on Saturday accepted the resignation letter of Justice Soumitra Sen and has forwarded it to the Law Ministry for action, said sources. The Lok Sabha will now decide if the motion of Justice Sen's removal will be taken up on Monday or not.
The Government on Friday decided to go by Attorney General GE Vahanvati's suggestion that despite the resignation the motion of removal of the Calcutta High Court Judge should proceed.
A lawyer on behalf of Justice Sen handed over the resignation letter to the President on Saturday morning after the letter faxed to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday was not found to be in order.
Justice Sen (53) was found guilty of misappropriating Rs 33.23 lakh under his custody as a court-appointed receiver in the capacity as a lawyer, and misrepresenting facts before a Calcutta court in a 1983 case.
The motion of removal against Sen was passed with an overwhelming majority by the Rajya Sabha on August 18.
Sources said that Vahanvati has based his opinion by referring to Article 124 (4) of the Constitution dealing with the procedure for removal of judges of higher judiciary.
He is understood to have said that Justice Sen should have resigned before the Rajya Sabha took up the removal proceedings.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had said that a decision whether to go ahead with removal proceedings against Sen will be taken after Lok Sabha receives communication from the Law Ministry.
He said, "If there is a clear resignation, perhaps the matter comes to an end and if there is any doubt the proceedings might go on".
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