New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari Thursday accepted a motion by 75 members seeking to impeach Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran on charges of land grabbing, but the fate of the pela is uncertain.
“Chairman Hamid Ansari has accepted a notice served by 75 members of the Rajya Sabha on the removal of Justice Dinakaran,” an official in Vice-President Ansari’s office said.

The issue will now be discussed in the Rajya Sabha, either during the ongoing winter session that has two more sittings on Friday and Monday, or during the budget session that begins late February.

The fate of the petition is, however, uncertain because none of the Congress members of the Rajya Sabha was among the 75 signatories to the petition, led by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

This is the third attempt to seek impeachment of a sitting judge.

Last year on the recommendation of Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, the Rajya Sabha had constituted a three-member panel to look into allegations of financial corruption against Calcutta High Court’s Justice Soumitra Sen. The CJI had recommended impeachment.

In the infamous failed impeachment motion in 1993 initiated for removal of Justice V. Ramaswami, a three-member committee of Justice P. Sawant, Justice D. Desai and jurist Chinappa Reddy conducted the probe and indicted the judge for corruption. However, when the matter was put to vote in the Lok Sabha, the Congress party abstained.

Thus, the impeachment motion failed because it did not have the support of the house majority.

The Supreme Court panel of five senior-most judges and the union government have decided not to elevate Justice Dinakaran to the apex court.

A petition seeking to launch impeachment proceeding needs to be signed, under the law, by at least 50 members of the Rajya Sabha or 100 members of the Lok Sabha. After securing the required signatures, the petition is to be submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairman or the Lok Sabha speaker, as the case may be.

Once the Rajya Sabha chairman/Lok Sabha speaker gets the signed petition, he/she is required to constitute a committee of three people - a sitting Supreme Court judge, a high court chief justice and a jurist - to inquire into the charges. The committee then submits its report to the house.

If the judge is found guilty and his removal is recommended, the matter is sent for voting to parliament where it has to be approved by a two-thirds majority of each house (present and voting) and an absolute majority of the total membership of each house.

Dinakaran faces allegations of acquiring land illegally in Tamil Nadu, where he was standing counsel of the government and later a judge of the high court.