Senior Supreme Court counsel claims the land which were allegedly 'encroached' upon by Justice Dinakaran does not belong to government

Land-ing issues exaggerated?

Senior Supreme Court counsel claims the land which were allegedly 'encroached' upon by Justice Dinakaran does not belong to government

Even as Parliament is mulling over impeachment proceedings against Karnataka High Court Chief Justice PD

Dinakaran, the Chennai High Court will hear a bunch of petitions by people who claim ownership to the same land which the government claims the top legal officer has encroached upon.

The report was also confirmed by another assessment by a three-member team of Survey of India which was submitted to the Law Ministry.
The collector had also assessed the properties belonging to Dinakaran and his family members in the Orathur village and concluded that there was no encroachment there.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer HP Sharma after checking the reports asked if the land, the government claims was encroached, was disputed then why the district collector failed to mention it in the report.
u00a0According to the law, encroachment can only be explained as a forceful occupation of a government property.

Since, the ownership of the land is disputed and the government has only claimed a property which was abandoned by its rightful owners, the charge of encroachment cannot be levied upon.

As per the Survey of India map of the Tiruvallur district, lands owned by Justice Dinakaran and his family members are surrounded by "government anadheenam lands" (government abandoned lands).u00a0 Sharma explained that since the land was not fertile the owners of the property left it and as per the law when an agricultural land is not being used for farming it is considered abandoned.

"However, the government authorities responsible for bringing the charges of encroachment upon Justice Dinakaran very conveniently forgets that the rightful owners have staked claim to their property, cases of whom are still pending before the Chennai High Court," the senior counsel said. "When the very status of the land is in question, how the charges of land grabbing can can be established against the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court," he said.

He also accused the state government of sitting upon the matter for far too long, even if the alleged charges against the top legal official stands scrutiny of the law. "Why are they dragging their feet over the matter? If he is guilty, why don't they just punish him?" asked Sharma.

The senior counsel claimed that all the allegations against his client were brought out only at the time of his elevation of the Supreme Court. "Where were they for the last more than five years?" he asked.

Though legal experts refrained from being quoted on the issue, they urged for a speedy trial or a debate in the Parliament to decide the issue. "The panel appointed by the Rajya Sabha Chairman should settle the matter as early as possible," said a senior apex court lawyer.u00a0

There have been charges that Justice Dinakaran is being victimised for being a Christian Dalit who has risen to the one of the topmost legal posts in the country. "He is a victim of local politics which is not in favor of his elevation to SC," said another lawyer on condition of anonymity.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels