The Supreme Court administration has called for an explanation from officials concerned over the listing of a plea filed by former union minister Arun Shourie, veteran journalist N Ram and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan in which they have challenged the constitutional validity of a legal provision dealing with criminal contempt, official sources said on Saturday.
According to the cause list on the apex court website on Saturday morning, the petition was scheduled to come up for hearing through video-conferencing before a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and K M Joseph on August 10.
Apex court sources maintained that the plea should have been listed before the bench which is already seized of similar matters, in line with the established practice.
“As per the practice and procedure in use, the said matter should have been listed before the bench which is already seized of similar matter, but it has been listed by ignoring established practice and procedure. In this regard, explanation from officials concerned has been called,” a reliable source said. However, after a couple of hours the matter was dropped from the cause list on the apex court website.
In their petition, Ram, Shourie and Bhushan have challenged the constitutional validity of a legal provision dealing with criminal contempt for “scandalizing the court”, saying it was violative of freedom of speech and right to equality.