New Delhi: A Rajya Sabha appointed panel
today discussed charges against Chief Justice-designate of
Sikkim High Court Justice P D Dinakaran, facing impeachment
proceedings in Parliament, but did not finalise the charge
sheet to be issued against the tainted judge.
The three-member committee constituted by Rajya Sabha
Chairman Hamid Ansari is headed by Supreme Court judge Justice
V S Sirpurkar and also consists of Chief Justice-designate of
Karnataka High Court J S Khehar and senior advocate P P Rao.
Indications available at the end of the two-hour-long
meeting were that the panel plans to hold further
deliberations for discussing the allegations against Justice
Dinakaran after it went through the charges formulated against
the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. The committee met
at the residence of Justice Sirpurkar.
"No chargesheet has been given to Justice Dinakaran as
yet as the committee is still discussing the allegations
against him," highly placed sources said at the end of the
meeting.
The sources said it will take some more time to arrive
at a decision as the members have to consider a lot of
documents which have been placed before the committee.
Justice Dinakaran has not been performing judicial work
in the Karnataka High Court for the last eight months
following allegations of land grabbing and other charges but
was carrying out administrative functions.
He was transferred last Friday to the Sikkim High Court
by President Pratibha Patil. Dinakaran has been asked to
assume charge in Gangtok on or before August 13.
Justice Dinakaran was recommended for elevation to the
apex court by the SC Collegium in August 2009. But after
several top jurists objected to his name citing allegations of
corruption and land grabbing, the government returned the
recommendation to the Collegium.
In January, opposition parties moved an impeachment
motion against Justice Dinakaran. Allegations listed in the
impeachment motion against Justice Dinakaran include
possessing wealth disproportionate to known sources of income,
unlawfully securing five housing board plots in the name of
his wife and two daughters and entering into benami
transactions.
The charges against him also include acquiring and
possessing agricultural holdings beyond the ceiling limit.
Justice Dinakaran has refuted the allegations.
The Rajya Sabha panel also did not take any decision on
an application of Chennai-based organisation, Forum for
Judicial Accountability, which had asked it to hear its
objections before taking any further step.
The forum has sought re-constitution of the committee,
saying that Justice Sirpurkar has closely been associated with
Justice Dinakaran when both of them were judges of the Madras
High Court.
"We want Justice Sirpurkar to be removed and the
committee be re-constituted," advocate R Vaigai, convener of
the forum, said.
He said, as of now the forum has not received any notice
from the committee on its application.
PTI
