Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE YEDURAPPA OF JUDICIARY JUSTICE DINAKARAN RESIGNS ON CORRUPTION CHARGES

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

THE YEDURAPPA OF JUDICIARY 

JUSTICE DINAKARAN RESIGNS ON CORRUPTION CHARGES! 

 The resignation of Sikkim Chief Justice P. D. Dinakaran, has gone unnoticed by the media which was busy with the resignation drama of B. S. Yeddyurappa. In a way the resignation of Dinakaran and Yedurappa are startlingly similar as both resignations were corruption related. For ordinary people, the resignation of Yedurappa is not a surprise as they perceive the politicians as unscrupulous and corrupt. Actually, the resignation of Justice Dinakaran should have got huge publicity as it concerns with judiciary which people view as the last hope for protection of democracy and human rights. As the people and media treat judiciary as the holy cow, Dinakaran’s resignation did not make much news. 

 The Indian judiciary in spite of being a party and parcel of the society with all its positive and negative aspects, has never allowed anybody to talk against the corruption, favouritism, nepotism etc. in judiciary. It has a powerful trump card of ‘contempt of court’ proceedings against anybody who whispers against judiciary or Judges. 

 Despite the insulation, there are cases of some judges bringing bad name to the judiciary. However, people still perceive the judiciary as the last hope for protection of democracy and human rights. 

 Whatsoever, there are some very serious corruption charges against some judges and unfortunately no mechanism to punish such judges even if the charges are proved by internal probe. The highest penalty for judges could be to ask them not to sit on the Bench and here too, it is only a ‘request’ by the CJ, and, at the maximum the CJ may not assign any cases to such judges. 

 Interestingly, an ordinary man and even Chief Ministers, Ministers when caught accepting a bribe gets a jail term. But for a judge who accepts a bribe or does some thing wrong or illegal, there is no mechanism to bring him to book like ordinary people. 

 The Dinakaran episode is a case in the point. Dinakaran was serving as the Judge of the Tamil Nadu High Court when some advocates made allegations for acquiring properties disproportionate to his income and also of favouritism while handing out the judgements. But no enquiry was held. Later Dinakaran was posted as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and here too, there were allegations of his misuse of power. The Chennai advocates who had formed a forum of Judicial Accountability continued their crusade and taking a cue from them, Karnataka advocates also took up the issue. They even boycotted his courts. 

 Dinakaran smartly defended stating that he is targeted as he is a dalit. Few advocates even stood behind him and some dalit organisations too rushed to his rescue. The Supreme Court collegiums took up an internal probe and found prima facie substance in the charges, but still, could not take any action against him. Some judges of the HC too objected to Dinakaran hearing the cases and only after a lot of heartburn, the SC collegiums ‘requested’ Dinakaran not to sit on the Bench. 

 For few months, Dinakaran functioned as CJ without hearing a single case limiting him to administration. This has created a record of sorts as he is the only Chief Justice who had not heard the cases and passed orders for few months, passing only administrative orders like posting matters to other judges for hearing. Dinakaran executed all other works of a CJ except the judicial work. 

 Finally this piquant situation ended with Dinakaran getting transferred to Sikkim High Court but even there, he faced opposition. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the world to take punitive actions against Dinakaran and realizing this, few Rajya Sabha members moved an impeachment motion against him. The Rajya Sabha Chairman admitted the motion and formed a probe committee to probe the charges. 

 From day one of the probe committee, Dinakaran fought fiercely to block the probe. He took objection to the inclusion of senior counsel P. P. Rao in the committee who had argued against him in the SC. He filed a petition in the SC and it later asked for the replacement of P. P. Rao in the committee. Dinakaran later filed another petition in the SC to stay the proceedings of the probe committee but was rejected. 

 There after, there was no way Dinakaran could stall the probe as there were documentary evidences of his misdeeds. He again played his dalit card but there was no way for him except to face the probe and subsequent impeachment and the removal thereon. That is why Dinakaran himself tendered his resignation. 

 However, there is no way he can be booked for the offences unless the concerned State Government treats him like an ordinary citizen who violated the law of the land and take action accordingly. But that is only a wishful thinking as one has not witnessed instances of retired judges facing the law of the land for the violations committed by them during their service. 

Unless, there is a mechanism in place to deal effectively with the charges against judges with provision for penalty, the malaise will continue. It is for this reason that there are demands for bringing the judiciary under the Lokpal Bill. Whatsoever, Dinakaran a Chief Justice of the High Court followed Yedurappa and resigned his post on corruption charges. And that explains the whole thing.