There was high drama in Supreme Court on Friday when Justice CS Karnan of Calcutta High Court, who is facing contempt charges, made his maiden appearance before a seven-judge SC Bench that had issued bailable warrants to secure his presence.
Justice Karnan, who came with a typed letter seeking unconditional apology for his unsubstantiated charges of corruption against 20 judges of the Madras High Court, created a flutter by offering to even go to jail if he had committed any contempt.
Sitting in Delhi, Justice Karnan even passed an order in his capacity as Calcutta High Court judge directing the Supreme Court Secretary-General to restrain the seven apex court judges from performing any judicial or administrative work and to declare them as “contemnors” for proceeding in contempt against him.
This order is of no significance as the SC has already withdrawn all judicial and administrative work of Justice Karnan.
The judge gave confusing signals while tendering a written apology. He pleaded for restoration of his judicial work in order to bring out evidence to establish his allegation against the judges. At one point, the Bench even doubted his mental fitness to defend himself and suggested for a counsel to assist him. After Justice Karnan declined the offer, the Bench asked him to think over and file an affidavit whether he wished to apologise or stick to his allegations against the sitting HC judges. The court granted him time to file a response by May 1, the next date when he has to appear again before the court. For the present, his request to restore judicial work was declined by the Bench.
The courtroom of the Chief Justice of India was teeming with lawyers, journalists and sundry litigants to catch a glimpse of Justice Karnan, who was escorted inside the court by policemen in plainclothes. Dressed in a light gray suit with a red tie, the judge was unapologetic of his conduct, indicating that he leveled charges against the 20 judges in interest of the institution and not for any “personal gain”. The Director General of Police, West Bengal informed the court that upon serving the warrant, the judge refused to accept the same and instead ordered filing cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the seven apex court judges and the Attorney General for proceeding in contempt against him.
“What business should a police officer have to enter a constitutional officeIJ The policemen entered my residence as if I am a terrorist. I have been insulted among general public and my dignity must be protected as this is an insult to the judiciary as a whole,” Justice Karnan told the apex bench.
Attempting the impossible, the judge in his four-page signed order said that any order passed by the seven judges shall not be acted upon by any litigant. He further reiterated his demand seeking Rs 14 crore by way of compensation for the damage caused to his reputation and directed the Secretary-General to deduct Rs 50,000 from each of the judge’s salary till the full amount was realised.
On his part, Attorney General G Mukul Rohatgi said the Justice Karnan’s letter showed total lack of “contrition” and if he is unwilling to accept a counsel to argue for him, he must be proceeded for contempt. The Bench of CJI JS Khehar, Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B lokur, PC Ghose and Kurian Joseph said, “Seriously he needs assistance. His response may be unintentional. He has not responded in any affirmative manner. We will proceed only after getting his response in writing.”
However, the court declined the judge’s request to restore his judicial work. “We want you to be relaxed and calmly respond on your letter (against the judges),” said the Bench, to which Justice Karnan replied, “I will be relaxed only when you restore my work. Till then I cannot effectively respond. Or else impose any punishment and send me to jail.”
The judge’s conduct forced the CJI to doubt his mental state. “If you feel that you are mentally not in a position to respond, you can supply a medical certification, else we will not accept your request to restore work.” Justice Karnan said that he had vacated his official bungalow in Chennai but doubts arose on his next appearance as he went off saying he won’t appear again in the court.