Former Calcutta High Court judge C.S. Karnan will file a petition before the Calcutta High Court on his appeal to the Governor for parole.
Pointing out that Justice Karnan’s petition to West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi seeking parole was filed in June, the former judge’s lawyer, Mathews J. Nedumpara, told The Hindu that they “will plead before the Calcutta High Court to direct the State government to make its recommendation on the issue to the Governor within a reasonable time”.
The petition will be filed by the end of August, his lawyers said. The former judge is serving a six-month prison sentence awarded by the Supreme Court for contempt of court. He was lodged in the the Presidency Jail following his arrest from Coimbatore by a West Bengal police team in June.
Justice Karnan’s lawyers argue in the petition that the State Home Department is “duty bound to process the memorandum” of Justice Karnan to the Governor.
Quick action
The petition further states that the State government should “communicate to His Excellency the Governor of West Bengal its view on the memorandum of the petitioner objectively, fairly and with utmost expedition and dispatch”.
The petition also seeks that Justice Karnan be released on bail till the State government makes the related recommendation to the Governor and the Governor takes a call on the matter.
It urges the Calcutta High Court to “declare that the petitioner is entitled to be enlarged on bail pending communication of the views/ recommendations, either way to His Excellency the Governor of West Bengal and its consideration by His Excellency the Governor in exercise of his extraordinary unfettered sovereign power”. Justice Karnan has appealed for parole under Article 161 of the Constitution, under which the Governor can grant pardon.
