After weeks of painful silence on the part of both the Government and the Supreme Court, the Government has finally chosen to reject the proposal to elevate Justice P.D. Dinakaran to the Supreme Court.

Justice Dinakaran reportedly informed Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan on Friday that the Thiruvallur District Collector's report confirming the alleged encroachment of 197 acres of land in Tamil Nadu, was incorrect.

Earlier last week, the Chief Justice had written to the Minister of Law Veerappa Moily seeking an independent investigation by the Government into the allegations against Justice Dinakaran, as the collegium did not have any mechanism to conduct an independent enquiry. Moily, citing the Memorandum of Procedure and the precedents set by the Supreme Court in the 1993 for appointing judges to the Higher Judiciary, pointed out that there was no such provision under the Memorandum, and told the CJI that he could not accede to the collegium's request.

M.N. Krishnamani, the president of the Bar Association of the Supreme Court, welcoming the decision of the Government, said in a release issued to the media, "Now that the name of Justice Dinakaran has been rejected by the Central government after due application of mind to the serious allegations against him, the collegium should put a full stop to this issue by dropping him once and for all."

Sources in the Supreme Court, however, inform Bar & Bench that the collegium might reject the Government's report and proceed with Dinakaran's elevation to the Supreme Court. Justice Dinakaran, speaking to the media in Delhi on Sunday, reiterated that there was no truth in the allegations levelled against him and added that his position as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court has restrained him from countering or exposing the brains behind the taint campaign.

His only reprieve will be a fair and thorough enquiry which will clear him of the allegations. As a Bar & Bench report indicated earlier, Justice Dinakaran, currently stuck between a rock and a hard place stands to lose either way. Sources indicate that caste politics and differences between the Bench and some senior members of the Bar might be operating factors when the collegium sits to decide on Justice Dinakaran's future.