The Chief Justice of Madras High Court on Monday reserved orders on the suo motu contempt proceeding initiated against two office-bearers of the Madurai District Bar Association.
Observing that the present issue was only to decide whether to refer the suo motu contempt to a larger Bench or to continue the matter as such, Chief Justice S.K. Kaul said, “The legal point on the issue will be discussed.”
Originally the suo motu contempt proceeding was initiated by a Division Bench of Justices S. Tamilvanan and C.T. Selvam against Madurai Bar Association president A.K. Ramasamy and secretary A. Dharmarajan for their conduct during an anti-helmet protest at the Madurai Bench of the court.
On October 1, the contempt proceeding was telecast live by the High Court for the first time in the history of the Indian Judiciary. After the conclusion of the arguments, as the judges of the Division Bench passed a spilt verdict, the matter was referred to the Chief Justice to take a decision.
When the petition came up for hearing on Friday before the Chief Justice, advocate N.G.R. Prasad who appeared for the advocates requested the CJ to keep the contempt proceedings hold and initiate a dialogue with the representatives of the Bar to reach an amicable solution. “The issue should be seen beyond contempt, we the advocate community want peace under the stewardship of the Chief Justice. You can trust us and negotiate with us,” Mr. Prasad said. Noting that the Bench was always willing to hold dialogue with the Bar to settle issues amicably, the Chief Justice S.K. Kaul said, “Dialogue can be initiated as a separate proceeding, but now I have a judicial duty to take a decision as per law on the contempt proceeding.”
“No Chief Justice will love such a situation, we are compelled to take hard decisions to bring normalality in the institution,” the Chief Justice said.
