Dinakaran issue divides Advocates Association

Bangalore: Fissures appeared in the Advocates' Association in Bangalore with a section of lawyers seeking a review of a resolution that asked the state High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran not to take part in judicial proceedings till his name was cleared of the charge of amassing wealth.

Amid controversy over elevation of Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme Court, the association had last month passed a resolution asking him 'not to take part in judicial proceedings till charges levelled against him are cleared'.

Objecting to the resolution, the association's former president K N Subba Reddy dubbed it 'inappropriate', saying it amounted to 'interfering with the functions of a judge.'

It was not proper for advocates to restrain a judge from discharging his duties, Reddy said in a letter to the association president K N Putte Gowda. 'Such a resolution will not bind either the judge or lawyers,' the letter said.

"We want the resolution to be reviewed" as it would be improper to ask a person appointed as per constitution to head the state judiciary not to sit for hearings, Reddy, also Federation of Bar Association in Karnataka President, said.

B V Ramamoorthy, Advocate of the High Court, said the association had 16,000 members but only around 500 odd members had attended the September 17 meeting which passed the resolution.

Karnataka State Bar Council had on Friday requested Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court collegium to consider allegations against Justice Dinakaran and take an appropriate decision regarding its correctness at the earliest.

Reddy said if the association wanted, a revised resolution could request lawyers to abstain from his (Justice Dinakaran's) court till the Chief Justice was cleared of all charges.

The resolution should refrain from issuing any directives to the Chief Justice, which is beyond their purview, he said.

The signatories to the letter, numbering around 600, however supported the two resolutions passed by the association including the one that requested all judges of the state High Court to declare their assets immediately.