Dinakaran inquiry: Panel needs office

A panel set up by Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari in January to examine if Karnataka chief justice PD Dinakaran, accused of corruption and impropriety by at least 75 MPs, can be removed from the high judicial office has made little headway.

The delay is primarily due to the Centre’s apathy in allotting space in the secretariat to the three-member panel of Supreme Court (SC) judge VS Sirpurkar, Uttarakhand high court chief justice JS Khehar and lawyer PP Rao for conducting proceedings.

The government took at least three months to allot two rooms to two officials attached to the high-powered committee set up under the Judges Inquiry Act (JIA).

Since JIA came into being in 1968, only three such panels have been set up.

The first probe against V Ramaswami had found him guilty and recommended his impeachment, but the SC judge scraped through the motion for his removal due to a walkout by a party.

The second panel is examining allegations against Calcutta high court judge Soumitra Sen. Former chief justice KG Balakrishnan had sent a letter to the prime minister recommending the removal of Sen, but the law ministry had reservations. It said Sen had committed irregularities when he was a lawyer and impeachment proceedings could be initiated only when a judge has committed a grave misconduct.

The third inquiry related to Dinakaran is pending. The government has failed to enable the Sirpurkar panel to even start probe, though it is expected that an inquiry into allegations against a high constitutional functionary must be completed within six months, so that she gets an opportunity to come out of the dark shadow of doubts.

What is expected of the government is a modest office for the inquiry panel. It’s also the government’s constitutional obligation as all efforts must be made to ensure the Caesar’s wife is above suspicion.