SC collegium’s U-turn on Justice Dinakaran?

The SC collegium on Saturday sought a reply from controversial Karnataka HC Chief Justice PD Dinakaran on the corruption allegations against him, it is learnt.

The Supreme Court collegium, the panel of top judges responsible for the appointment and promotion of judges on Saturday sought a reply from controversial Karnataka High Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran on the corruption allegations against him, it is learnt.

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The move follows a report sent by the Tamil Nadu government on allegations of land grabbing against Justice Dinakaran, highly placed court sources said.

This virtually puts Justice Dinakaran out of race for an appointment in the Supreme Court in the near future and could have an adverse bearing on his continuation as a high court chief justice, HT has learnt.

This is for the second time in less than a month that the collegium was forced to meet, to deal with a situation arising out of serious objections raised on its recommendation to promote Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme Court.

The top five judges of the country are understood to have agreed to seek a detailed reply from the judge on a series of allegations including land grabbing, accumulation of excess property and some decisions to favour industrial houses, sources said.

The names of Dinakaran and four others were recommended by the collegium on August 27 for promotion to the apex court.

However, following a report in the HT on September 14, that top jurists led by Fali S. Nariman objected to his proposed promotion, the collegium developed cold feet and met on September 18 to discuss the issue, but took no final decision.

The government initiated investigations into the allegations against Dinakaran, after the collegium’s recommendations.