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[nahia]

NEW DELHI: Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran's elevation to the Supreme Court has been kept in abeyance in view of the impeachment proceedings against him in the Rajya Sabha over land grabbing allegations, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said on Friday.

"We have kept Justice Dinakaran's name in abeyance in view of impeachment proceeding initiated against him in the Rajya Sabha," the CJI told reporters.

The CJI's response came when he was repeatedly asked whether the Supreme Court Collegium has dropped Justice Dinakaran's name for elevation to the apex court.

The Collegium led by CJI including Justice S H Kapadia, Tarun Chatterjee, Altamas Kabir and R V Raveendran met last evening and decided to put its recommendation on hold.

Earlier, the Law Ministry had rejected the August 27 recommendation of the collegium and asked it to reconsider the decision.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari had yesterday admitted a notice of the motion by MPs to start impeachment proceedings against Dinakaran over land-grabbing allegations.

The Chairman is expected to constitute a three-member committee comprising a Supreme Court judge, a high court chief justice and a jurist to examine the notice and give its views before the impeachment process is carried forward.

Dinakaran (59), who has kept away from judicial work, has ruled out his resignation and termed as "unfortunate" the impeachment motion against him.