The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Justice P.D. Dinakaran is no stranger to controversy. After having been accused of corruption and land acquisition, Justice Dinakaran restricted his functions as the Chief Justice only to administrative duties and had ceased all judicial functions. On Wednesday, rumor had it that he had decided to resume his judicial functions from yesterday. Yet again, threats of protest from local lawyers led by the Advocates Association’s President, K.N. Putte Gowda, led to Justice Dinakaran changing his mind and not attending court.

As reported earlier, the Chief Justice of Karnataka is facing an impeachment motion by Chairman Hamid Ansari under the Judges Act, 1968. He last presided over cases on December 7, 2009 and it has been almost six months since he has been absent from court.

The Dinakaran issue created musical chairs in the appointment of High Court Judges when he refused to resign or go on leave despite the Supreme Court collegium asking him to do so. Justice Dinakaran’s proposed transfer to the Sikkim High Court created quite a stir, leading to protests from the Sikkim Bar Association. Senior lawyers such as Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, Shanti Bhushan and the present President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Ram Jethmalani have expressed their disapproval of Justice Dinakaran presiding over court matters and his proposed elevation to the Supreme Court.

Union Minister for Law, Veerappa Moily had while speaking on amending the impeachment procedure, earlier stated, “No person with a shadow of corruption can become a judge if that system is put into place.”  Meanwhile, Justice Dinakaran’s fate continues to hang in balance.