Less than two weeks after the Chennai-based Forum for Judicial Accountability,which is spearheading the oust-Justice Dinakaran movement,asked him to recuse himself from the three-member probe panel constituted to look into charges of corruption against Sikkim High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran,Supreme Court Judge V S Sirpurkar has done so.
He is learnt to have written to Vice-President Hamid Ansari,requesting to be recused from still-to-be started proceedings of the panel. Sources said Ansari has accepted Sirpurkars request and has now written to Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia for a new name.
Various anti-Dinakaran groups,have been opposed to the presence of Sirpurkar on the panel,which will decide if the charges against Dinakaran are so strong so as to merit his impeachment.
Dinakaran is facing an impeachment motion moved by 76 members of the Rajya Sabha for alleged corruption and irregularities.
Best of Express Premium
Those seeking Sirpurkars recusal from the panel say that when he was a judge of the Madras High Court he heard many cases jointly with Dinakaran. They also performed administrative duties together.
Sometime back,the Forum for Judicial Accountability had sought Sirpurkars recusal,pointing out that he continued to maintain good relationship with Dinakaran even after both were transferred from Madras High Court. To buttress its point,the Forum said that Dinakaran attended the marriage of Sirpurkars daughter in Nagpur while Sirpurkar had attended Dinakarans daughters wedding.
There have also been demands from various quarters for removal of jurist P P Rao from the panel. The third member of the panel is Andhra Pradesh HC Chief Justice A R Dave.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
