The Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to intervene in a plea by a lawyer claiming to represent Calcutta High Court judge C.S. Karnan for staying a May 9 order of the Supreme Court sentencing the judge to six months imprisonment for committing contempt.
The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Deepak Gupta told advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara that the May 9 order was passed by a Bench comprising seven of the senior most judges of the SC led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar after due consideration and any grievance should be addressed to that Bench alone. “The order was passed by the Special Bench. We cannot say anything,” the Bench said.
Mr. Nedumpara submitted that the detailed judgment finding Justice Karnan guilty of contempt has not yet been made available. “You ask these questions to the Special Bench,” the Vacation Bench replied.
When Mr. Nedumpara stressed on his plea for a stay of the May 9 order, the court responded that “nothing has happened in the past one month. You wait for three or four more weeks and go to the Special Bench”.
