Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court P D Dinakaran resigns

The Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, P.D. Dinakaran resigned from his post on July 29, 2011 after unsuccessfully challenging the impeachment proceedings going on against him by submitting several petitions before the Apex Court..Earlier Bar & Bench reported, a Rajya Sabha-appointed panel had slapped 16 charges of corruption and irregularities on Dinakaran. A bench comprising of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, had allowed Dinakaran’s plea seeking removal of Senior Advocate P.P. Rao from the inquiry panel and asked Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari to reconstitute the panel by replacing Rao with another distinguished jurist. However, the Court rejected the plea to quash some of the charges framed against Dinakaran by the Rajya Sabha panel enquiring allegations of corruption..According to The Hindu, Dinakaran in his resignation letter to President Pratibha Patil said, “I have a sinking suspicion that my misfortune was because of my circumstances of my birth in the socially oppressed and under privileged society. Integrity of members of these communities who attain high office is always baselessly questioned through innuendo, smearing and spreading of false rumours while the privileged are treated by the vested interests as embodiment of all virtues. In order to maintain the dignity of office I am holding and to prove that I do not have any lust for the office, position and power, I do not want to adopt any dilatory tactics. I am submitting my resignation”..The 61-year-old Dinakaran, due to retire on May 5 next year, said he had lost faith in the fairness of the procedure adopted by the Inquiry Committee headed by the Supreme Court Judge, Justice Aftab Alam, as it had decided to go ahead with the proceedings without awaiting the result of his petition challenging the entire process of inquiry, TOI reports..It is to be noted that, as a result of his resignation, the removal proceedings initiated under the Judges Inquiry Act pursuant to a motion admitted in the Rajya Sabha will become ineffective..Dinakaran is an alumnus of Madras Law College and started his career in Madras High Court. He also practiced in the State and Central Administrative Tribunals at Madras. He was appointed as a permanent Judge of Madras High Court on December 18, 1996. Further, he was elevated as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court..Dinakaran faced the impeachment motion when he was the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court and recommended for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court in August 2009. Dinakaran was refused elevation to the Supreme Court by the Government despite the recommendation of the collegium headed by then Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan. The impeachment motion was admitted by the Rajya Sabha against him in December 2009 following which Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari constituted the panel to probe the allegations. Later, he was transferred to the Sikkim High Court..Bar & Bench had also earlier reported that Dinakaran was adopting delay tactics to avoid impeachment.