Nagaland Lokayukta Justice Uma Nath Singh has expressed his willingness to resign as the state’s anti-corruption ombudsman as suggested by the Supreme Court.
The factum of filing of the note, containing the willingness of Justice Singh to resign, was brought to the notice of the bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde by senior advocate Vikas Singh, the counsel for the retired judge, Hindustan Times reported.
The bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, had earlier asked the senior advocate to take instruction on the possibility of Lokayukta resigning from the post.
The three-judge bench, however, did not receive the note. Advocate General KN Balagopal appearing for Nagaland was served a soft copy of the note during the hearing. The bench decided to post the matter for hearing next week.
The note by Lokayukta suggests “unpleasant circumstances” and “hostile environment” as the reason to quit forthwith but “upon dismissal of the writ petition (by Nagaland government)”.
He further wants no action or proceeding to be initiated against him by the state that could defame him or cause any stigma to his privileges and status as Lokayukta.
The Nagaland government had moved the top court in exceptional circumstances for orders to restrain the Lokayukta from hearing any case or exercising his powers or functions under the Nagaland Lokayukta Act, 2017.
Justice (Retd) Singh, a former Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, was appointed Lokayukta of Nagaland on March 13, 2019.