Bangalore Advocates Association welcomes collegium's decision

Bangalore Advocates Association today welcomed the Supreme Court Collegium's decision asking Karnataka high court chief justice PD Dinakaran, who faces allegations of land grab, to go on leave.

"We welcome the decision. The apex court collegium could have taken the decision long back to uphold the dignity of the judiciary," K N Putte Gowda, president of the association which has been spearheading a stir against Justice Dinakaran in the wake of the charges against him, told PTI.

The collegium had rightly advised him to go on leave till the inquiry was completed as Justice Dinakaran could not have discharged his duties with a "free mind" in view of a "threat of an impeachment", he said.

Highly placed sources in Delhi said the decision was taken against Dinakaran, who has not been performing any judicial work since December last, as several representations were received that the judicial work of the High Court has been hit.

Dinakaran has not been performing judicial functions after Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari admitted a motion in December seeking his removal on charges of corruption, land-grab and abuse of judicial office.

Allegations listed in the impeachment motion against Justice Dinakaran included possessing wealth disproportionate to known sources of income, unlawfully securing five housing board plots in the name of his wife and two daughters, entering into benami transactions, and acquiring and possessing agricultural holdings beyond ceiling limit.

Other allegations related to illegal encroachment on government and public property to deprive dalits and poor of their livelihood, violation of human rights of dalits and poor and destruction of evidence during official inquiry.