Panel defends stand against member’s removal
The impeachment inquiry committee set up by Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari to inquire corruption charges against Sikkim high court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran on Wednesday defended in the Supreme Court its decision rejecting his plea for removal of senior advocate P.P. Rao from the probe panel on the allegation of bias.
Committee’s counsel Udai Lalit told a bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and C.K. Prasad that Mr Rao though wrote to the probe panel’s chairman Justice Aftab Alam to allow him to recuse following a “presumptive” report in a national daily that Justice Dinakaran had consulted him, Justice Alam, a judge of Supreme Court, rejected his plea as the newspaper report was factually far from the truth.
Mr Rao had submitted to the chairman of the panel that Justice Dinakaran had met him but he had not tendered any legal advice to him. He rather asked Justice Dinakaran that he should face the inquiry to clear his name as the allegations were very serious against him. This could not be construed as a “legal advice” by any stretch of imagination and the chairman of the committee Justice Alam and other member Karnataka high court Chief Justice K.S. Khehar and rejected Mr Rao’s request and asked him to continue in the panel.
On the allegation of “bias” levelled by Justice Dinakaran against Mr Rao, Mr Lalit said the advocate was frank in admitting that he had drafted a resolution of Bar Council of India to the CJI against Justice Dinakaran, also spoken about the charges against him in a seminar and was also part of a delegation to the CJI demanding withdrawal of Collegium decision on elevation of the judge to the SC.
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