Process to impeach Karnataka chief justice PD Dinakaran begins

The second judge impeachment proceeding in the country’s history is set to start soon. The judge in question is Karnataka high court chief justice PD Dinakaran. Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari is setting up a statutory three-member panel and the government is working on a notification to activate the Judges Inquiry Act.

Supreme Court judge, justice VS Sirpurkar will head the panel that will have Andhra Pradesh high court chief justice AR Dave and noted constitutional lawyer PP Rao.

“I hope the inquiry panel will take maximum three months to complete the inquiry and thereafter, submit its report to the Rajya Sabha chairman,” says a member of the panel on condition of anonymity.

The panel will appoint its counsel too, just like any commission of inquiry set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act. “It’s also a fact-finding inquiry… the complainant and the person against whom allegations are to be investigated would have their lawyers appear before the inquiry panel,” says a top source.

The panel’s lawyer will sift the facts, highlight lacunae, if any, and suggest queries that could be put up to the suspect — justice Dinakaran.

It is said that justice Dinakaran will contest the charges, unlike Supreme Court judge, justice V Ramasami, who watched the proceedings from outside while an interested MP Krishnamani had put up a proxy defence on his behalf.

Noted jurist Fali S Nariman and Raju Ramachandran had then assisted the panel. Lawyers who had sought justice Ramasami’s removal had also aided them.

In justice Dinakaran’s case, however, there is a likelihood of three sets of lawyers appearing before the panel: the panel’s lawyer, complainants’ lawyers, and justice Dinakaran’s lawyer.

It’s interesting to note that the Sirpurkar panel has a qualified chartered accountant, justice Dave. His inclusion may be an added advantage to the panel that will have to scrutinise a plethora of documents and tax returns and sale and gift deeds that form part of the grave charge against Dinakaran.

Dinakaran has been accused of  encroaching land and amassing wealth.

Justice Sirpurkar, who will head the panel or bench, hails from Chandrapur in Maharashtra and became a Bombay high court judge in 1992 after serving the Calcutta and Uttaranchal HCs. He was elevated to the apex court in January 2007. The then chief justice of India YK Sabharwal, who himself faced allegations of corruption, had sworn the oath of office to justice Sirpurkar.

A life-long member of the World Wild Life Fund, justice Sirpukar belongs to a lawyers’ family — father, mother, wife, son, daughter-in-law and brothers are all lawyers.

Decorated with Padma Bhushan in 2006, Rao, 77, started practice in Delhi in 1967 and appeared in several matters of constitutional importance like dissolution of assemblies in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992, JMM bribery case in which former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, a personal friend of the eminent jurist was the petitioner, and reservation and fees in educational institutions.

He has also authored quite a few books on judicial and electoral reforms among others.