SC lifted Stay on the Proceedings against HC Chief Justice of Sikkim, Justice Dinakaran

The Supreme Court on 5 July 2011 lifted the stay on the proceedings against Justice P.D. Dinakaran observing that Sikkim High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran was deploying tactics to stall the impeachment proceedings initiated against him. The apex court asked the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Judges Inquiry Committee to reconstitute the panel entrusted with the task of probing into the allegations against the judge.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad termed as motivated his plea for quashing the charges framed against him by the Judges Inquiry Committee. The bench opined that Dinakaran wanted to adopt every possible tactic to delay the submission of report and asked the committee constituted to probe corruption charges against him to proceed with its inquiry on the basis of the charges already framed by it. The Supreme Court upheld the framing of fourteen charges of alleged corruption and misconduct against Sikkim high court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran by a three-member inquiry committee in the impeachment proceedings.

Justice Dinakaran is facing charges of corruption and of having wealth disproportionate to his known source of income. Justice Dinakaran in his plea had accused senior advocate P P Rao, who was part of the three-member panel appointed by the Rajya Sabha to probe the corruption charges, of being biased against him. Dinakaran had also argued that the panel, constituted last January by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, had exceeded its brief.

The panel, headed by Supreme Court judge Aftab Alam and which includes Karnataka Chief Justice J S Khehar, is inquiring into charges of corruption, land grabbing, possessing disproportionate assets and misbehaviour against Dinakaran.