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In Re: Hon'ble Shri Justice C.S. Karnan

Contempt Petition (Civil) · 2017 INSC 455Decided 9 May 2017
Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 1 of 2017
Chief Justice J.S. Khehar · Justice Dipak Misra · Justice J. Chelameswar · Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose · Justice Kurian Joseph

Background

Justice C.S. Karnan, a sitting Judge of the Madras High Court (later transferred to the Calcutta High Court), repeatedly wrote letters to the Chief Justices of his High Court, state officials, and ultimately the Prime Minister of India, making sweeping and unsubstantiated accusations of corruption and caste discrimination against dozens of named sitting and retired judges, including Supreme Court judges and successive Chief Justices of India. He also attempted to pass "suo motu" judicial and administrative orders outside his assigned roster, including purporting to direct police action against fellow judges, despite the Supreme Court having earlier restrained him from doing so. These actions prompted the Supreme Court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against him directly, an unprecedented step against a sitting High Court Judge.

Decision Breakdown

The seven-judge Bench unanimously held that Justice Karnan's conduct, public, repeated, and uncorroborated allegations against the judiciary, combined with his defiance of the Court's earlier restraining orders and his continued attempt to exercise judicial/administrative powers outside his sanctioned roster, amounted to contempt of court and of the judiciary "of the gravest nature." The Court found that his actions had been widely publicized through electronic and print media, compounding the damage to public confidence in the judiciary, and that his medical examination (which had been raised as a possible defense) did not excuse the conduct. The Court convicted him of contempt and sentenced him to six months' imprisonment, directed that the sentence be executed forthwith by the West Bengal police, barred him from performing any further administrative or judicial functions, and ordered that no further public statements by him be published. Detailed reasons were recorded in separate signed orders placed on the file.

Lesson Learnt

Judicial office does not place a judge beyond accountability, even a sitting High Court Judge can be held in contempt and criminally sentenced by the Supreme Court for making public, unsubstantiated attacks on the judiciary and defying the Court's own orders; the privilege of judicial independence carries a corresponding duty of institutional responsibility.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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