Karnataka HC CJ denies encroaching govt land

Karnataka HC CJ denies encroaching govt land
1/15/2010
Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran flatly denied he had usurped any government land or was involved in any land scam.

In an interview to a private Kannada TV Channel which was telecast, the Judge, who had come under scanner for alleged land grabbing in his home town of Kaverirajapuram in Tamil Nadu, dismissed the allegations and said he had neither encroached on government land nor grabbed land belonging to others.

In his first reaction in open, he said the value of his property, which was alleged to run into crores of rupees, may not be the same when his family had bought the land 17 years ago and developed it with great effort.

‘Does anybody care to know what was it worth when we purchased that land 17 years ago. It might cost more now. But do not people get aged.

‘I am not any younger than I was 17 years ago. Could I have stopped this change?’ he asked.

CJ Dinakaran denied he had usurped government land and said there was a piece land adjacent to his family property bordering and conjoin social forest area.

‘What can I do about it? We have fenced only the family property and nothing else,’ he stressed.

He said the patta land was his family property which is only fenced.

‘I am a farmer and I know the effort that has gone into making our family property an agricultural land. When we came into possession of this land, it was barren,’ he said.

Asked to react on the District Collector’s report, he said ‘He is burdened with too much of responsibilities. I don’t have any further to say.’ When asked whether he would come out of this episode unscathed, CJ Dinakaran said, ‘I am confident. I believe in democratic system and rule of law. I believe justice will prevail.’