Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court P.D. Dinakaran on Friday resigned from his post, ahead of the commencement of the removal proceedings by the three-member panel on Saturday.
The panel revived the probe after the Supreme Court dismissed his writ petitions and is yet to give its verdict on one petition.
Justice Dinakaran, who will attain the age of superannuation in May 2012 sent his resignation letter to President Pratibha Patil, with a copy to Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia. (Under Article 217 (a) of the Constitution, a Judge of the High Court “may by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office.”)
As a result of his resignation, the removal proceedings initiated under the Judges Inquiry Act pursuant to a motion admitted in the Rajya Sabha will become infructuous.
Informed sources told The Hindu that Justice Dinakaran was upset that he was being targeted as he belonged to the lower caste and “the system does not grant him any support.”
He is understood to have said in his resignation letter: “I have a sinking suspicion that my misfortune was because of my circumstances of my birth in the socially oppressed and under privileged society. Integrity of members of these communities who attain high office is always baselessly questioned through innuendo, smearing and spreading of false rumours while the privileged are treated by the vested interests as embodiment of all virtues.
“In order to maintain the dignity of office I am holding and to prove that I do not have any lust for the office, position and power, I do not want to adopt any dilatory tactics. I am submitting my resignation.”
