Tainted K'taka HC CJ Dinakaran yet to go on leave

Bangalore, Apr 6: The Supreme Court Collegium's directive to the tainted Karnataka Chief Justice PD Dinakaran asking him to go on a leave has seen no positive response from the judge as reports have emerged that he is not ready to leave yet.

While some reports claim that the Chief Justice is waiting for formal communication from the collegium and that he will take the decision after that, others claim that Dinakaran sought legal opinion on the matter.

Sources in the apex court said that the it would take at least a week's time for the collegium"s decision to be conveyed to Dinakaran as there is a process involved. After the required steps are taken the court will send out a letter.

The High Court Registrar"s office has also said that it has not received any letter in this regard yet.

On the judge's move to seek legal opion on the matter, it should be noted that Dinakaran is not bound by the law on collegium's directive. The Constitution provides no authority to the collegium, which is a panel of senior most judges, to take any strict action against judges. The collegium's authority is restricted to recommending an errant judge"s transfer.

In this case, Dinakaran is free to accept or reject collegium's advice to go on leave, say experts.

However, the fact that Dinakaran is still showing up for work at the High Court is causing an upraor. He is reportedly holding administrative powers and has not said anything about going on leave.

The collegium on Saturday, Apr 3 asked Dinakaran to go on a leave as it learnt that the work at the Karnataka HC suffered as the chief justice has not been performing judicial duties since Dec 2009 after an impeachment motion was moved in the Rajya Sabha.

Dinakaran was asked to give up his judicial responsibilities as he faces allegations of corruption, land-grab, abuse of judicial office and disproportionate assets.

OneIndia News