Click to play videoNew Delhi: Justice P D Dinakaran, the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, has been summoned by the Chief Justice of India to answer allegations of financial irregularities.
A letter written by a forum of lawyers of the Madras High Court and signed by four senior advocates of the Supreme Court--Fali Nariman, Shanti Bhushan, Anil Divan and Ram Jethmalani--makes serious allegations against Dinakaran and advises that he shouldn’t be promoted to the apex court.
The lawyer’s letter accuses Dinakaran of a range of offences: from not paying a bill for his daughter’s wedding to buying large pieces of land in Chennai.
CNN-IBN asked Nariman, one of the country’s most respected jurists, if it was fair for the lawyers to try and block Dinakaran’s promotion.
“I suppose as senior members of the bar we owe it to the institution because the institution is greater than any of the judges in it. These allegations were made by responsible members of the Madras bar…therefore I thought that it was important that we should bring it to the notice of the Chief Justice,” said Nariman.
“The bar does not have the right to appoint judges nor to veto judges’ appointment. All the power that we have--if at all--is to warn (and) to tell the highest judiciary and people who recommend the appointment that look there is some danger in this person. And if there is some danger in that person then I believe that an investigations has to be made privately to know whether the allegations are right or not.
“I believe the image of the court is far more important than any other individual, whether he is appointed or not.”
Nariman said lawyers were not seeking a “confrontation” with the judiciary but bringing a matter to their notice. “The idea is not to have a confrontation with the judges. The idea is to bring to their notice something that they many not have noticed.
He insisted the lawyers’ letter’s about Dinakaran was private and confidential and he didn’t know how it reached newspapers.
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