In a first, the Supreme Court has issued a warrant against a sitting High Court judge.
Justice CS Karnan of the Calcutta High Court was issued a warrant as he failed to appear before the apex court on Friday.
Reports suggest that the DGP of West Bengal will serve the warrant.
A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar ordered Justice Karnan to appear before it on March 31.
The apex court also asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 10,000.
Friday’s order came as Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that Justice Karnan has refused to appear before the court in the contempt case.
Under the Supreme Court Rules, if a person fails to appear for summons, a bailable warrant is issued against them.
In January this year, Justice Karnan had written a letter to Prime Minister Modi with an “initial list of corrupt judges” and three officers of the Madras High Court, accusing them of corruption. He told the Prime Minister that the corruption charges can be proved by ‘competent officers’ of central agencies.
Following this letter, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court took note of several letters sent out by Justice Karnan, all of them alleging corruption in the Judiciary. The Court asked the Calcutta High Court judge to present himself before the bench, asking him why contempt of court charges should not be filed against him.
But not only did Justice Karnan refuse to appear before the court, he sent out another letter, this time to the Supreme Court itself. In this 4-page letter, the Calcutta High Court judge reiterated his allegations against the Madras High Court judges, and asked that the contempt case be moved to Parliament instead.
A constitution bench comprising Khehar and six other judges had in February ordered that Justice Karnan would not discharge any judicial and administrative functions during the pendency of the proceedings.
(IANS Inputs)
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