From tenant to landlord, the rise of PD Dinakaran

Justice must not only be done, but also seem to have been done. What the adage means is that the public needs to see justice done or they will feel that the system is failing them. That’s the principle guiding the impeachment action on Karnataka high court chief justice PD Dinakaran.

The list of charges attached with the memorandum for impeachment says that as a judge of the Madras high court he headed a bench that quashed a writ petition challenging the acquisition of land by the Tamil Nadu government for a housing board colony in Sholinganallur neighbourhood scheme phase III.

Dinakaran’s wife Dr Vinodhini, his father-in-law and mother-in-law had been allotted three plots in the housing scheme. On January 29, 2004, Dinakaran’s bench rejected Kuresh Kapadia’s petition and paved the way for his close family to get the plots. They became owners on September 1, 2005, after signing the sale deed.

“His (Dinakaran’s) actions amount to being a judge in one’s own cause, which is a gross abuse of office and subversion of justice”, says the memo. Dinakaran also heard a matter raised by one Anandhi Murthy and her husband Karuna Murthy, who are well-acquainted with him. A year before Anandhi filed a writ petition in 2004, Dinakaran and his family stayed with them in Canada en-route to the USA.  

The Dinakarans stayed with the Murthys in Canada from August 11-15, 2004. Even though the judge was closely associated with one of the parties in the case, he continued to hear it, violating the code of conduct.

Dinakaran was the son of a low-paid school employee, Paul Ponnusamy, and the judge used to live in a rented flat in Vepery, Chennai.

Before becoming judge, Dinakaran purchased 3,236 sq ft land in Shenoy Nagar, Chennai, and 36.28 acres of agricultural land in Kaverirajapuram village, Thiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu. He didn’t look back after that. Today, the judge and his wife pay Rs3 lakh in EMIs on loans of Rs1.59 crore. The family owns at least 500 acres of land and each acre is valued at Rs15 lakh. The total value is 75 crore.