Supreme Court collegium keeps Dinakaran's candidature in abeyance, may consider women judges for apex court posts.
The prospects of Karnataka chief justice PD Dinakaran’s elevation to the Supreme Court (SC) have turned bleak with the SC collegium deciding to keep his candidature in abeyance after examining a report by the collector of Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu, that the ‘dalit’ judge indeed possessed about 500 acres and also encroached on about 197 acres of public land misusing his position.
The severe indictment that prima facie confirms the allegations made by a collective of leading lawyers, including Fali S Nariman, Shanti Bhushan and Anil Divan, adds fuel to the growing discontent against Dinakaran resting with the high constitutional office and the cumbersome politically-engineered impeachment required to remove him.
It is learnt that the chances of the collegium considering at least two women judges for the top court have brightened with law minister M Veerappa Moily insisting on a fair deal to the fair sex.
In the meanwhile, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) KG Balakrishnan-headed collegium, which examined the collector’s report on Saturday evening, has sought Dinakaran’s response within a week. The judge had last month rubbished the charges, saying he was rich by birth and need not be corrupt.
On the other hand, Moily said, “Hard facts and evidence would prevail on a decision to allow entry of the judge to the apex court. Constitutional authorities will not go by perceptions or impressions and controversies but by hard facts and evidence.”
Since the Prime Minister reiterated on Sunday that judicial reforms were urgently needed, analysts said Dinakaran’s position as judge of the Karnataka HC or any other HC also appeared questionable.
A former CJI said if the allegations were prima facie true, “it’s a serious matter”.
“But it has to be ascertained whether the judge encroached on public land or possessed excess land. If he has committed these alleged gross irregularities as a judge, he is liable to impeachment,” he said.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, a member of the committee on judicial accountability (Coja) that initiated the move exposing Dinakaran’s healthy assets, said, “The CJI must ask him [Dinakaran] to desist from delivering justice and grant sanction to prosecute him for criminal offences such as land grabbing, eliminating evidence and intimidating revenue officials.”
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