While declining to interfere with a single Judge’s order of December 2010 initiating suo motu contempt proceedings against two police officers, including the Coimbatore Police Commissioner, the Madras High Court has said they could appear before the Judge and defend their matter. The court directed the Registry to post the contempt proceedings before the single Judge.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices N. Paul Vasanthakumar and R. Mahadevan, passed the judgment on an appeal filed by the Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Law and Order), Coimbatore, in 2010 against the December 2 order of the single Judge.
Earlier, while dealing with a writ petition, the Judge had sought some particulars from the Government Pleader, L.S.M. Hasan Fizal. The Commissioner, instead of furnishing the information, had blindly stated that it could not be sought by the court. Taking a serious note of this, the Judge initiated suo motu proceedings, the Bench said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Bench observed that if the Commissioner had any grievance about the initiation of the proceedings, he could go before the Judge and explain as to how the information wanted by the court could not be furnished. The initiation of the proceedings was not an order or relating to the merits of the dispute.
Applying various judgments to the facts of the case, the Bench said it was of the firm view that the writ appeal was not maintainable. It dismissed the appeal and directed the court Registry to post the contempt proceedings before the single Judge.