SC Not My Master, Says Sitting HC Judge Karnan After Being Served Bailable Warrant

New Delhi: Justice CS Karnan who had been issued a contempt notice earlier in February by the Apex court refused to appear before the bench in Friday’s hearing and has been served a bailable warrant by a bench headed by CJI J.S. Khehar and has been asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs. 10,000.

Minutes after the warrant was issued, Karnan addressed the media and promised to order a CBI probe against the corrupt judges.

"I complained against 20 judges and a former Prime Minister. This is the reason why a Suo Moto case has been registered against me. They are harassing me intentionally. One Constitution cannot be hurdle against another constitutional body. Supreme Court is not my master and High Court is not the servant. My next step is that I will use my judicial power," Karnan said while addressing the media.

He further said, "They are targeting me because I am a Dalit. A Dalit not being allowed to work is atrocity."

On the context of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, he said, "He is not a fair A-G. There is no provision to issue a bailable warrant against a sitting judge. I am giving direction to the CBI to start a probe against the corrupt judges and inquiry report should be submitted in both the houses."

Karnan mentioned names of Justice Deepak Misra and Mukul Rohatgi in his complaint.

The court has directed the West Bengal Director General of Police to personally execute the warrant against Justice Karnan to ensure his appearance before it on March 31, when the court will again hear the matter.

On February 8, SC had taken a suo motu action to initiate contempt proceedings against the sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court when the court took note of the letters that the judge had written in which he had levelled serious allegations against several sitting and retired judges.

Today a seven-judge bench comprising of CJI J.S. Khehar, Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Chelameshwar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice MB Lokur, Justice PC Ghose and Justice Kurian Joseph, was extremely displeased with constant disregard that Justice Karnan had shown towards an order of the SC.

Advocate General Mukul Rohatgi, informed the court that “Karnan was bound to appear in the case." The bench even discussed the letter written by Justice Karnan to the SC which again levels further serious allegations against several judges. AG submitted that such an action from a sitting judge has brought “great disrepute to the judiciary."

However, Justice Karnan has earlier informed the court that the contempt proceeding initiated by the seven-judge bench is not maintainable “under law" as he is a sitting high court judge and stated that “the matter should be must referred to the parliament."

In one of the letters that Justice Karnan had written to the Secretary General, he had accused the CJI led bench of upper caste bias and stated that this contempt proceeding was initiated because "he belonged to the Dalit community."

Justice Karnan had also written that such an act was against the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and stated this matter should be heard only after "the CJI has retired or the matter should be placed before the parliament."

The bench has accused him of bringing discredit to the judiciary of the country by writing scandalous letters about sitting and retired judges.

Justice Karnan has recently written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, listing the names of almost 20 judges of various HCs and SC charging them with serious corruption allegations and has demanded a CBI probe into their activities. Earlier Karnan had also written to the National Commission of SC leveling serious charges of anti-Dalit bias against the Chief Justice of Madras High Court in 2014, when he was posted there.

The February order passed by the seven-judge bench of the Apex court debarred Karnan of his judicial and administrative work. However, Karnan had stated that this order was a clear indication of upper caste bias and the bench was operating against a SC/ST judge with "malafide intention."

Today Rohatgi informed the bench that upper the Supreme Court Rules, ‘if a person does not appear, a bailable warrant is issued against them’ and accordingly Karnan has now been served with one.