Dinakaran likely to go on long leave

Controversial Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran,whose transfer to the Sikkim High Court has been recommended by the Supreme Court collegium,is learnt to have decided to proceed on leave....

Controversial Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran,whose transfer to the Sikkim High Court has been recommended by the Supreme Court collegium,is learnt to have decided to proceed on leave.

While there was no official confirmation,sources told The Indian Express that Dinakaran has already indicated to Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan about his readiness to proceed on indefinite leave.

If this happens,Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Madan B Lokur,whose transfer was recommended to the Karnataka High Court,will become Acting CJ there.

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Incidentally,last month,when the Supreme Court collegium had advised the CJ to stop doing even administrative work and proceed on leave,a defiant Dinakaran had refused to do the same.

Justice Dinakaran,who retires on May 9,2012,has not been performing judicial duties since December last when an impeachment motion was moved in the Rajya Sabha against him for corruption and irregularities.

Early this month,the SC collegium was said to have decided to shift Dinakaran to Sikkim HC,leading to protests by Sikkim HC lawyers,who questioned the move to transfer the tainted CJ to their court. However,less than a week later,former J&K High Court Chief Justice Barin Ghosh,whose transfer to Sikkim was already under process,received his warrants of transfer and took oath on April 14.

Sources in the Department of Justice,which processes the transfer of Judges of the High Courts,said they had so far not received any communication from the apex court collegium about Dinakarans transfer to Sikkim.