Justice P.D. Dinakaran has moved the Supreme Court against his removal proceedings before a three-member committee, which is probing the charges of corruption, land-grab and abuse of judicial office, among others, against him.
The charges were levelled when he was Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. He has since been shifted to the Sikkim High Court.
In his writ petition filed on Tuesday, Justice Dinakaran challenged the April 24 committee order, rejecting his plea that one of the panel members, senior advocate P.P. Rao, recuse himself. He sought a stay on all further proceedings.
The committee, which includes Justice Aftab Alam of the Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court Chief Justice J.S. Khehar, had issued the charge sheet to Justice Dinakaran in March and sought his response. Even as he moved the Supreme Court, Justice Dinakaran submitted his response to the panel, which posted for Wednesday the matter for an enquiry to decide which charges were to be dropped.
Justice Dinakaran raised preliminary objections to the continuance of Mr. Rao on the committee on the plea of bias. However, the committee dismissed his application, holding that it was filed with a view to delaying the proceedings.
Assailing the proceedings, Justice Dinakaran said the committee had acted beyond the scope and jurisdiction of the Judges (Inquiry) Act and was passing orders without hearing his counsel. The committee was also acting unconstitutionally by not following the due procedure, he said.
