Judiciary not free from corruption: Former CJI

On the debate on corruption in judiciary in general,he said: “….Higher judiciary does not suffer with that kind of corruption which is so prevalent in other departments of administration”.

“There may be one or two incidents here and there but judiciary is not free from corruption,and one or two instances would not be sufficient to hold that judiciary is a corruption institution”,said Justice Singh,who is on a private visit in Bangalore.

He said he did not know Justice Dinakaran in person nor did he know details of the allegations. But if media reports on the allegations are correct,then “it will certainly damage the constitutional office of Chief Justice as well as it will damage the image of the entire judiciary in the country,” he said.

“It pains me that a District Collector had conducted an inquiry (on the land holdings of Justice Dinakaran in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu),” he said.

Speaking in general terms,Justice Singh,who retired in 1991,said that sometimes some allegations were made especially when a judge was very aggressive or not liked by some members of the Bar or litigant public.

“But the kind of allegations (against Dinakaran) have not been made (It’s the first time that such allegations were levelled against Judge). I don’t think it had been made,” he pointed out.

Ever since reports came of Justice Dinakaran being elevated to the Supreme court,lawyers in Bangalore and Chennai have come out with allegations that he had grabbed land in Tamil Nadu in violation of the land ceiling laws.