New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) The faxed resignation letter of Justice Soumitra Sen did not carry his ‘original signature’, President Pratibha Patil’s office said Friday, adding that they were awaiting the actual letter.
Government sources said that the possibility of the Lok Sabha moving a motion for his removal next week will depend on the decision the president takes on Sen’s letter.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said Friday that the signature on Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen’s resignation letter – which was faxed to President Pratibha Patil Thursday – has been found ‘not original’.
‘The signature in the faxed letter has been found not original. We are waiting for the hard copy of the letter to arrive and check the signature,’ Archana Datta, spokesperson of the president, told IANS here Friday.
‘Let the letter come. Any decision by the president will be only after that,’ she added.
The President’s Office has handed over the faxed letter to the Department of Law and Justice, the spokesperson said.
Sen, against whom an impeachment motion was passed in the Rajya Sabha for financial irregularities, announced his resignation in Kolkata Thursday through his lawyer.
The Lok Sabha was due to take up the impeachment proceedings Sep 5. Sen sent a copy of his resignation letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar too.
A union minister, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told IANS that the possibility of taking up motion for Sen’s removal in the Lok Sabha would depend on the decision taken by the president.
‘The ball is in the president’s court. If the president accepts the resignation and the decision is notified, then he (Justice Sen) ceases to be a judge. There will be no need for a motion of removal in the Lok Sabha,’ the minister said, adding that ‘an impeachment motion can be taken up if his resignation is rejected’.
‘What the President’s Office informs, we will move on that,’ the minister said.
On Aug 18, the Rajya Sabha moved the impeachment motion and it was adopted with 189 members voting in favour and 17 against it.
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.
