New Delhi: Government on Monday said it has
no role to play in the issue of impeachment process of
Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran except
notifying the committee constituted by the Rajya Sabha
Chairman.
"Parliament is seized of the matter. Under the powers
vested with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he has already
constituted a committee," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told
reporters here.
He was replying to a question on government's stand on
Justice Dinakaran.
The elevation of Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme
Court was put on hold following allegations of land-grabbing
and amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of
income. The Law Ministry had returned the Supreme Court
recommendation for his elevation.
"The Committee will have to be notified and proposal
has come to the government of India and is under process,"
Moily said.
He said "at this stage" government cannot take any
stand on the issue and a set process under the Judges Inquiry
Act of 1968 which deals with impeachment of members of the
higher judiciary, will have to be followed. "The
Constitutional proicess has started," he added.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Md Hamid Ansari had recently
appointed a three-member committee comprising Supreme Court
Judge V S Sirpurkar, Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High
Court Justice A R Dave and eminent jurist P P Rao.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 00:18