New Delhi, January 16
Supreme Court Judge VS Sirpurkar will head a three-member panel that will investigate the allegations against Karnataka Chief Justice PD Dinakaran whose impeachment has been sought by 75 opposition members of the Rajya Sabha.

The other members of the panel are Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice AR Dave and noted jurist PP Rao. Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Hamid Ansari has constituted the probe team.

According to a Rajya Sabha notification, the committee, constituted under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, would “make an investigation into the grounds on which the removal of Justice Paul Daniel Dinakaran Premkumar, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, is prayed for”.

The MPs belonging to the BJP, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Akali Dal and AIADMK submitted the petition to Ansari about a month ago, seeking Justice Dinakaran’s removal following allegations of land grabbing, accumulation of wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income and other irregularities levelled against him.

Justice Dinakaran’s proposed elevation has been put on hold following the charges, raised by the Tamil Nadu and Bangalore Bar Associations and eminent jurists like Fali S Nariman and Shanti Bhushan. Justice Dinakaran has rejected the allegations, describing them as “baseless”.

Under the Constitution, judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts can be removed only through impeachment in Parliament. So far, India has only once witnessed impeachment proceedings in Parliament. This happened in the early nineties against the then Supreme Court Judge V Ramaswamy. The impeachment motion, moved in the Lok Sabha, however, could not be carried as it failed to secure the requisite number of votes following a walkout by the Congress.

Another impeachment process is pending in the Rajya Sabha with the Judge concerned being Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court. Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan recommended his removal following allegations of judicial misconduct.