Justice Dinakaran's elevation to SC hits roadblock

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) Karnataka High Court Chief
Justice P D Dinakaran's appointment as a judge of the Supreme
Court of India has hit a roadblock with a collegium headed by
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan understood to have put
on hold the decision on his elevation.

The apex court collegium, which met here Saturday, is
believed to have sought within a week his response to the
allegations that he had amassed land in Piruvallur district
of Tamil Nadu (India's southern state), reliable sources said.

The collegium's decision came after it considered a
report of the District Collector of Piruvallur which is
believed to have pointed out that at Kaverirajapuram in
Tiruttani taluk alone, the extent of land allegedly possessed
by the judge was approximately 500 acres, they said.

The sources said the decision of the collegium will be
communicated to the Ministry of Law, where the file relating
to the elevation of Justice Dinakaran along with four High
Court judges is pending.

After the government receives the communication on the
Dinakaran issue from the collegium, they said it could put in
abeyance his elevation and proceed with the appointment of
other four judges to the Supreme Court of India whose names
have been cleared by the collegium.

Along with that of Justice Dinakaran, the collegium had
cleared the names of Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High
Court A K Patnaik, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana
High Court T S Thakur, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High
Court S S Nijjar and Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court K
S Radhakrishnan for elevation to the apex court. (

The collegium, also comprising Justices B N Agarwal, S S
Kapadia and Altamas Kabir, had asked the District Collector
for his report following an allegation that Justice Dinakaran
possessed around 500 acres of land in Tiruttani taluk.

There were also other allegations of amassing of wealth
by Justice Dinakaran, the sources said.

Earlier, various representations were made by eminent
lawyers, including those from Tamil Nadu, making accusations
of land grabbing against Justice Dinakaran to the CJI. PTI RKS
ANU