Lawyers turn heat on Justice Dinakaran

In a memorandum to the Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, the associations said: “His continuance as a judge may also have to be objected to, apart from not elevating him to the apex court.”

The developments followed media reports that Justice Dinakaran owned land far beyond the ceiling fixed by the Tamil Nadu Land Ceiling Act. Objecting to Justice Dinakaran’s continuance as the CJ of Karnataka High Court, the memorandum said: “The position of a chief justice of the High Court is more pivotal than that of a ‘puisne’ judge of the Supreme Court.’’

“If the controversial judge has enormous assets, still he did not disclose them and if he could not have accumulated them by legitimate means, then it is a serious matter,’’ said the representation signed by SC Bar president M N Krishnamani and Delhi HC Bar president K C Mittal. They said if a judge, because of his doubtful integrity, cannot be  elevated to the Supreme Court, certainly he should not continue as the CJ of the High Court as well.

A representation was also made to Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and four senior-most judges in the collegium. The representation submitted by the Forum for Judicial Accountability, a registered NGO, and signed by many top legal luminaries, including Shanti Bhushan and Fali S Nariman, said Justice Dinakaran had allegedly acquired “huge assets....”

The representation also raised doubts about the transfer of all mining-related cases in Karnataka from the Dharwad circuit bench to Bangalore. “It is strongly believed that this was primarily done for the personal gain of the chief justice,” the representation alleged.
“Even if these cases do not have anything to do with environmental issues, they were posted before the so-called ‘Green Bench’ in  Bangalore. Janardhana Reddy... is the Tourism Minister and has extensive mining interest himself...” In Bangalore, members of Advocates’ Association, Bangalore (AAB) will convene a meeting to discuss the matter. AAB president K N Puttegowda said the issue would also be discussed at the High Court Bar Association on Thursday.