The Supreme Court has taken a stern view of Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnan defying its order to present himself in court, and in an unprecedented move, issued a bailable warrant against him. A seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar decided it had had enough of Karnan's defiant ways and acted tough as he refused to comply with two SC orders seeking his personal appearance despite a notice being served on him.
The court said it was left with no option but to issue a warrant against him to secure his presence in the court on the next date of hearing on March 31. This is the first time a sitting judge of the higher judiciary is facing contempt proceedings and the apex court has been forced to issue a warrant against a judge. Karnan has maintained that he is a victim of caste bias and has often accused his colleagues of discriminating against him. He has also claimed that the proceedings against him are vitiated by the same sentiment.
Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi informed the bench, including Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, P C Ghose and Kurian Joseph, that Karnan had refused to mend his ways and there is no let-up in his contemptuous behaviour as he recently passed an order against the SC order on the "suicide note" of former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul in which allegations were levelled against certain judges.
He added that Karnan had sought a meeting with him and fellow judges to discuss allegations levelled by him. "It would be pertinent to mention that the registry of this court received a fax message from Justice C S Karnan, dated March 8, seeking a meeting with the Chief Justice and the judges of this court, so as to discuss certain administrative issues expressed therein, which primarily seem to reflect the allegations levelled by him against certain named judges. The above fax message cannot be considered as a response of Justice Karnan, either to the contempt petition, or to the notice served upon him," the bench said.
