Dinakaran attends court, advocates to decide on boycott move Wednesday

BANGALORE - Karnataka Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran, facing allegations of excess land acquisition in his home state Tamil Nadu, Monday attended the court, ignoring the call of Bangalore advocates to stay away till his name is cleared.

The Bangalore Advocates Association, which had on Sep 17 urged Dinakaran not to hold court till his name is cleared of the charges, Monday decided to hold a special general body meeting Wednesday to decide whether to boycott his court.

“We had an emergency meeting of our governing council today (Monday). We decided to convene a special general body meeting Wednesday to decide further course of action on our Sep 17 resolution (which asked Dinakaran not to hold court),” the association president K.N. Putte Gowda told IANS.

“The court functioned normally,” he said when asked whether the advocates participated in the proceedings of Dinakaran’s court.

The state high court reopened Monday after over 10 days vacation for the Dussehra festival.

The controversy over land acquisition by Dinakaran erupted following reports that he is being considered for appointment as judge of the Supreme Court.

Dinakaran had met Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan mid-September and reportedly denied the charges against him.

Karnataka Advocate General Ashok Harnahalli had met Dinakaran here Saturday and urged him to attend the court. This followed speculation that Dinakaran was not willing to attend the court Monday in view of the advocates association resolution asking him to first clear his name.

A section of lawyers in Tamil Nadu capital Chennai has claimed that Dinakaran had acquired large tracts of land exceeding the limit set by Tamil Nadu government. Dinakaran was a judge of the Tamil Nadu high court prior to his appointment as Karnataka chief justice.