Bangalore, October 06: Setting at rest speculation on whether he would preside over or abstain from conducting court proceedings in the light of allegations of corruption levelled against him, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court P.D. Dinakaran on Monday attended court and heard matters listed for hearing.
There had been a lot of uncertainty over whether Justice Dinakaran would attend court proceedings as the Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB) had on September 17 passed a resolution requesting him to refrain from attending judicial work till his name was cleared of the allegations levelled against him.
Justice Dinarakan sat on a Division Bench along with Justice Mohan Shantangouder and heard 27 matters, including a public interest litigation petition relating to the en masse resignation of 3,800 government doctors. The Bench sat for about 40 minutes before retiring for the day.
Moments before the Bench assembled at 10.30 a.m., advocates began assembling in Court Hall 1 to see if the Chief Justice would attend work. A handful of the advocates from trial courts were also present.
Though Advocate-General Ashok Harnahalli and several other advocates said the Chief Justice should sit and preside over judicial proceedings, a section of the legal fraternity took umbrage at the manner in which the resolution of the association was given a go-by.
Several advocates, on condition of anonymity, said Justice Dinakaran should gracefully refrain from attending court work as his integrity was being questioned.
They argued with the president of the AAB, K.N. Putte Gowda, to convene an emergent general body meeting to discuss the future course of action. Bowing to their demand, Mr. Gowda said the general body meeting would be held on Wednesday.
Additional Advocate-General K.M. Nataraj said the AAB comprised eminent advocates and hoped it would take a principled and considered stand.
The AAB later held a meeting of its office-bearers and took exception to statements being issued by the Federation of Bar Association of Karnataka, saying that they did not represent the legal community and that it was not recognised. The AAB said it was the sole representative of advocates in Bangalore and wanted the federation not to confuse advocates by issuing statements.
Meanwhile, M.K. Vijay Kumar, a city-based advocate, filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking details of the assets of Justice Dinakaran and his family members.
The application was accepted by the Public Information Officer of the High Court, Mulugund. It seeks details of assets from 2005 till now.
–Agencies