Land grab charge to stall elevation to apex court: Dinakaran

BANGALORE - Beleaguered Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran has claimed that allegations of land grab and abuse of judicial office were levelled against him to stall his elevation to the Supreme Court.

In his latest missive to Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Dec 17, a copy of which is in possession of IANS, Dinakaran said the 12 charges levelled against him were without any basis and substance.

“There is no legality or misconduct whatsoever alleged all these years from Dec 19, 1996 till Aug 7, 2008 during my tenure as a judge of High Court of Madras or during Aug 8, 2008 till date as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court,” Dinakaran reiterated.

Dinakaran wrote the letter to Balakrishnan after Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari Thursday accepted a notice given by 75 parliamentarians of the upper house to impeach him under Article 217 read with 124(4) of the Constitution.

A day earlier, at the behest of Balakrishnan, Karnataka High Court Registrar Budhihal said Dinakaran would not be sitting on the bench to take up judicial matters until further orders.

Dinakaran, however, stopped conducting hearings Dec 7 after the central government decided not to elevate him to the Supreme Court Dec 4.

“The allegations are nothing but motivated to stall my elevation to the Supreme Court duly considered and recommended by your good self and collegium’s judges,” Dinakaran said in the 11-page letter, attested with a copy of supporting documents.

Refuting each of the charges such as possessing wealth disproportionate to known sources of income, Dinakaran said the properties owned and possessed by him and his wife were all acquired through known source of income assessed to tax and the same were also disclosed in their respective returns filed before the Income Tax authorities.

Similarly, referring to the charge of illegal encroachment of government and public property to deprive Dalits and the poor of their right to livelihood, the state high court chief justice said the reports of Tiruvallur district collector V. Palanikumar dated Oct 8, 10, and 15, 2009 were “self-contradictory”.

“When the collector reports on Oct 8, 2009 that there is an encroachment of 199.53 acres of land, the field survey map relied upon by him is prepared on Oct 15, 2009. Therefore, the report is not based on the correct revenue records and ground reality,” Dinakaran claimed.

Denying abuse of judicial office by him to favour a few individuals or for his own unjust enrichment at the cost of the public exchequer and in matters where he had personal and direct pecuniary interest, Dinakaran said the judicial orders were based on consensus by a division bench and no order was passed in favour of any individual.

Refuting the charge that he took irregular and dishonest administrative actions, while constituting benches and fixing rosters of judges, the chief justice said decisions were made only after taking into consideration the availability of judges and the constitution of benches at principal bench in Bangalore and the two circuit benches at Dharwad and Gulbarga in north Karnataka, which had to be done on rotation.

“There are no illegal or arbitrary appointments or transfers made. They are made based on the recommendations of the committees of the judges and in accordance with service rules,” Dinakaran asserted.

Noting that allegations of judicial office abuse were baseless, Dinakaran urged Balakrishnan not to take cognisance of them.

Dinakaran was among the five senior judges whose names were empanelled for elevation to the apex court.

Following a complaint by legal luminaries, including Fali S. Nariman, Shanti Bhushan and others, the CJI summoned Dinakaran Sep 6.

The complaint was followed by the Advocates Association of Bangalore, which Sep 17 resolved that Dinakaran should not sit through court proceedings until he was cleared of the charges and decided to boycott his court.