Tanvi Sinha
Supreme Court on Monday, 1st February accepted the resignation of Justice Uma Nath Singh affiliated with the Nagaland Lokayukta after he promised to step down on the condition that the state government would keep his name untarnished and not defame him to the media.
A three-judge bench headed by CJI Bobde and consisting Justices AS Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian accepted the resignation and allotted the now-retired judge adequate protection when he goes to Nagaland to collect his belongings.
The resignation came after Senior Advocate Vikas Singh for the judge, stated willingness to resign in midst of the Naga government’s plea raising questions on the functioning of Lokayukta in the state.
Justice (retd) Singh’s resignation described “unpleasant circumstances and a very hostile environment” as reasons for the decision to resign.
The resignation further conditioned no one to be allowed to tarnish the retired judge’s name unless it was based on factual reporting and confined to the contents of the Apex court’s order.
The top court had earlier spoken, wondering how the Lokayukta were to perform their duties in Nagaland while sitting inside the National Capital and had in August heard the plea filed by the state government which had the chairperson for Lokayukta as one of its respondents.
The plea was filed, according to the state, to maintain the sanctity of the office of the Lokayukta Nagaland.
