Dinakaran is Making a Virtue out of a Reality

It is now a habit, for those in positions of power, to make a virtue out of a necessity. We are used to seeing politicos, when arrested for or charged with corruption that they believe in the law and that they will face the due process of law. The point is that they hardly have a choice because the due process of law taking its course is not a matter of choice. In the constitutional scheme of things, a citizen has to submit himself to the due process of law.

The recent case in this context is that of Justice P.D.Dinakaran. He had the choice, in the past three months or so, to convey to the Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G.Balakrishnan to not give him any judicial work until the charges against him were either proved or disproved. Justice Dinakaran could have done this the morning after charges against him of encroachment of public land in Kaverirajapuram were conveyed to the collegium of the Supreme Court. He did not do that.

Instead, the learned Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court simply denied all that was said about him. It did not matter to the judge that the charges against him were not merely verbal slander but based on documentary evidence. A section of the Madras High Court Bar had put together documents obtained from the Revenue department to establish that the judge had encroached upon public land and fenced all of that along with his own property. The documents revealed, prima facie, that the judge had violated provisions of the Land Ceiling Act.

Such violations by any citizen is actionable and in the event such actions are not taken by the Revenue authorities, a citizen has the right to approach the higher judiciary seeking a writ to act against the person guilty of violation. Well. This was a case of a member of that higher judiciary violating the law. And he was even waiting to be elevated to the Bench in the Supreme Court! That was when the petition detailing his acts of arrogance and illegality was submitted to the collegium.

Dinakaran stayed on in the denial mode. And this he did even after the District Collector of Tiruvellur reported to the collegium that the charges against Dinakaran are true. That the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court did encroach as many as 197 acres of public land. It was also confirmed by now that the learned judge owned more land in his own name (and more than what is allowed by the Land Ceiling Act) and also property in Chennai city. For some reason, the judge decided to disregard the Collector’s report. It is strange because the established norm and the law is that the District Collector is the absolute authority when it comes to attesting land related documents.

Dinakaran did not say, anytime in these days, that he would stay away from judicial work. He insisted on sitting in the court, preside over the first bench of the Karnataka High Court, even while the advocates in the Bangalore Bar insisted that he stay away from doing judicial work. The Bar Association even went on a strike and Dinakaran insisted that he presided over the Bench. He was sitting in court everyday and shuttling between Delhi and Bangalore to meet the Chief Justice of India, K.G.Balakrishnan. He even managed to defend himself by way of speaking to the media.

All the while, Dinakaran had opportunities to say that he will not sit on judgment until the charges against him were cleared. Dinakaran himself had up-held and rightly so, in his capacity as judge for several years, that it is proper and appropriate to place an officer charged of some guilt under suspension during the period of enquiry. That is the law of the land. And there is no way that such suspensions can be called into question.

This is now the reality. An impeachment motion has been moved against Justice Dinakaran by as many as 75 members of the Rajya Sabha. The required norm is that at least 50 MPs of the Rajya Sabha or 100 of the Lok Sabha can sign and move a motion. Once done, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Hamid Ansari in this case) will necessarily have to set the ball rolling and seek the Chief Justice of India to appoint a sitting High Court Judge along with a former judge and a jurist of repute to form a committee that must investigate into the charges. Once and only if the committee finds substance in any of the charges, the next stage will be that the motion is put to vote before the Rajya Sabha in this case and if passed by a majority, it will be placed before the Lok Sabha.

And it is the law, in this context, that the judge under enquiry is kept away from discharging justice. Justice P.D.Dinakaran has now no other choice than to stay away from judicial work. And it is a shame that he too has played the drama by conveying it to the media that he has decided to stay away from judicial work. The sadder part of the story is that the media too has reported as if Dinakaran did this out of his own volition. Sorry. He did not have a choice.