SC meeting over, no decision on Justice Dinakaran

New Delhi: The Supreme Court's collegium on Friday failed to arrive at a decision on whether to recall its recommendation to the government to promote Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran to the apex court in view of the allegations levelled against him.

"No decision was taken," said a senior official from the office of Chief Justice of India when asked if the collegium took any decision regarding Justice Dinakaran's elevation to the apex court.

Dinakaran has been short-listed for promotion to the Supreme Court. However, he was reportedly summoned by the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan for clarifications following allegations about land acquisitions against him by a section of Madras High Court advocates.

During the recent meeting in Delhi, Dinakaran reportedly told Balakrishnan that the charges against him were not true.

The apex court collegium of its five senior-most judges met on Friday evening to take stock of the situation arising out of the serious allegations levelled by five legal luminaries against Justice Dinakaran.

The collegium, headed by Justice Balakrishnan and comprising Justice B N Agrawal, Justice S H Kapadia, Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice Altmas Kabir, met to examine if the collegium's decision need to be reviewed.

Leading advocates including F S Nariman, Shanti Bhushan, Ashok Desai and Ram Jethmalani had suggested that the Chief Justice of India should reconsider the decision to elevate the judge to the Supreme Court.

The apex court collegium has recommended to the government to appoint Dinakaran and four others as apex court judges. The recommendation is usually binding.

The Advocates Association of Bangalore Thursday threatened to boycott the court of state Chief Justice Dinakaran in view of the allegations against him.

They also decided to send a memorandum to the prime minister, Chief Justice of India and the law minister appealing to them not to elevate Dinakaran to the Supreme Court nor allow him to continue as chief justice of the Karnataka High Court.

"The High Court has a vacation (for Dussehra festivities) from Friday till Oct 4. It resumes on Oct 5 and if Dinakaran attends the court, we will not allow him to sit in his court," T G Ravi, a spokesperson of the association, had told IANS.