The three-member committee, constituted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, which met here on Sunday, discussed the charge sheet to be given to the Chief Justice-designate of the Sikkim High Court, Justice P.D. Dinakaran. However, it could not finalise the charges and decided to seek further clarifications. Justice Dinakaran faces removal proceedings in Parliament. Highly placed sources told The Hindu that the meeting held at the residence of Chairperson Justice V.S. Sirpurkar of the Supreme Court went through the charges formulated and found some more details were needed.
The Chief Justice-designate of the Karnataka High Court, Justice J.S. Khehar, and senior advocate P.P. Rao are the other members of the committee.
Sources asked the committee's counsel to get the details and decided to meet again on September 12. The committee did not take any decision on the representation of advocate R. Vaigai of the Chennai-based Forum for Judicial Accountability that the Forum's objections be heard before proceeding further.
The charges against Justice Dinakaran, as mentioned in the motion admitted in Parliament included possessing agricultural holdings beyond the ceiling under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961; illegal encroachment on government and public property to deprive Dalits and the poor of their right to livelihood; violation of the human rights of Dalits and the poor; destruction of evidence during an official inquiry; obstructing public servant on duty; repeated undervaluation of property at the time of registration of sale to evade stamp duty and carrying out an illegal construction in breach of the Town Planning Law and the planning permit.
