CS Karnan
Former Calcutta high court justice CS Karnan, the first sitting high court judge to be jailed, finished his six month prison sentence today in Kolkata's presidency prison and was released today, reported the Express.
100 cops, led by the West Bengal police chief, are currently at the doors of Calcutta high court Justice CS Karnan to enforce the Supreme Court’s arrest warrant against him for contempt of court, reported NDTV, after Karnan yesterday sent another letter to the seven most senior apex court judges claiming Rs 14 crore in compensation from them for having “disturbed my mind and my normal life”.
After the Supreme Court slapped him with suo motu contempt charges, Calcutta high court Justice CS Karnan has written a letter dated yesterday to the Supreme Court, vowing to file a criminal case against the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and another Supreme Court judge under the SC / ST Atrocities Act for allegedly victimising him because of his caste.
A seven apex court judge bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar, with justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, PC Ghose and Kurian Joseph have today withdrawn all judicial and administrative work from Calcutta high court judge Justice CS Karnan, according to PTI.
The Supreme Court collegium is learnt to have stood by its decision to transfer Delhi HC judge Rajiv Shakdher after the law ministry sent back his case for reconsideration, said several persons aware of the outcome. The law ministry had asked for a review after lawyers protested against Shakdher’s transfer.
reported the The Economic Times.
As first reported by Legally India on 24 February, several senior counsel had written to the Supreme Court collegium to reverse its order, in light of the respect he enjoyed at the bar.
The ET wrote in its report that five senior counsel had protested in writing about the transfer because “they objected to his being transferred along with [Madras high court Justice CS] Karnan, whose case was regarded in a different light”.
The Supreme Court has rendered Madras high court judge Justice CS Karnan judicially impotent, ordering that he should not be allocated any cases and even if he did pass any orders suo motu, those should be ignored
Justice CS Karnan of the Madras high court sought 12 weeks’ time to reply to a petition alleging “intemperate observations” made by him against the Madras high court Chief Justice SK Kaul, reported PTI.
According to the PTI, Karnan had written to the registrar general of the Supreme Court and said: “I sought funds from the Madras high court and the same is under process on the file of Administrative Committee now pending three months.”
The Madras high court had petitioned against Karnan at the Supreme Court when on 16 April, 2015 he had passed a suo motu order questioning the nomination of one of the high court judges, Justice V Dhanapalan, to the selection committee for the recruitment of 162 civil judges.
Karnan had also passed an interim order in a suo motu writ petition dated 30 April 2015 where in he had threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against his high court’s chief justice SK Kaul for allegedly interfering with his judicial order by orders on the administrative side.
The Supreme Court stayed the interim order and restrained Karnan from hearing or passing any order related to the writ petition.
Karnan had submitted to the Supreme Court that the registrar general of the Madras high court was not a party in the case but he had filed a petition before the Supreme Court and obtained an interim stay.
He submitted that his contention in that order passed by him suo motu was that produced “bogus educational certificates and on the basis of his clandestine behaviour attained the post of High Court Judge at Madras high court”.
He said that the order of the Supreme Court was “poignantly unusual” and sought to adjourn the case for 12 weeks.
Delhi HC slaps railways with costs for frivolous appeals: The Delhi HC criticised the department of railways for filing “frivolous” appeals to evade coughing up due compensation, and imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on the Railways officer who had advised moving court in a case where a man was trampled inside a train bogey [The Hindu]
CS Karnan accused SC judge of connivance: Madras HC justice CS Karnan wrote to “a Supreme Court judge” who “had bemoaned the developments at the Madras high court” at a “recent function”, accusing him of heaping insults on him and “conniving” with vested interests to prevent Karnan from inaugurating a court building, reported the [New Indian Express]. The NIE had earlier reported that former Madras HC chief RK Agrawal, in his farewell speech on his elevation to the SC, had adversely commented on Karnan’s allegations, controversial episodes, and on the situation at the HC
New Chhatisgarh law comm and new TN law comm members: Former Madras HC justice T Suthanthiram, former additional secretaries in the State Law Department R Vivekanandan and R Kathirvel, and former district judges R Dayalan and R Munirathnam have been appointed to the Tamil Nadu Law Commission as full time and part time members. Chhatisgarh has meanwhile set up a law commission to review existing laws according to state conditions, for the first time since its formation out of Madhya Pradesh. Till now its law was entirely adopted from Madhya Pradesh state law [The Hindu/TOI]
New anti illegal lending law in Maha: The Maharashtra legislative assembly has passed a bill to regulate transactions of money lending in the state and do away with the five year limitation for probing illegal lending transactions [Mumbai Mirror]
SC lawyer Vineet Dhanda booked: Supreme Court additional standing counsel for Arunachal Pradesh, Vineet Dhanda, was booked at Vishrambaug for allegedly manhandling the police. Dhanda countered that the police hit him on the head and pushed his wife [TOI]
HSF is not renewing Singapore licence: “Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance, Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose Fulbright and White & Case have successfully renewed their Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licences in Singapore, while Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has decided not to re-apply,” reported [The Lawyer]
The Supreme Court (SC) collegium withdrew the 12 names recommended for judgeship at the Madras high court, which had been opposed vehemently by a section of the HC’s bar and bench since December, reported the Times of India.
The collegium said that the withdrawal wasn’t based on an opinion of the merits of the names for selection, but was done keeping in mind the “unprecedented opposition” and the fact that the HC’s chief justice RK Agrawal had since been elevated to the SC and the new chief justice should be given a chance to consider names afresh.
The recommendation of the now withdrawn list had led to successive court boycotts by the bar, a petition by senior advocate R Gandhi against the recommendation and a controversial outburst by the Madras HC’s judge CS Karnan, among other things such as casteist slurs flying around at the HC’s bench.
Madras HC chief Agrawal talks candidly on local turmoil: Recently elevated Madras HC chief justice RK Agrawal, at his farewell, made reference to HC justice CS Karnan barging into his chamber hurling abuse. Agrawal said that while nobody had “ever raised their voice” to him in his 37 year career, Karnan was the one exception. “I need not tell you that the events of this Court are followed throughout the country. I worry not about the personal comments, but I do get pained when I hear that innuendos are being targeted at the High Court and it is becoming the subject of public ridicule,” he said [New Indian Express] He also said that many of his colleague’s on the HC’s bench desired transfer to another high court [TOI]
Gov blocks 1299 social URLs: Government asked social networking sites to block 1,299 web addresses or URLs to comply with court orders between January 2013 and January 2014, reported the [PTI]
Gujarat prisoners UIDed: Out of total 12,123 inmates in Gujarat prisons, all Indian nationals will get Aadhar cards according to a recent HC direction to the state government [TOI]
3 Bihar district judges dismissed: The Bihar government has dismissed three district judges whose dismissal was recommended by a full court of the Patna high court, after they were “found with some women” in a Nepal hotel’s police raid [TOI]
JAC controversial clause dropped: A controversial clause debarring judges from making verbal comments against any constitutional authority during open hearings was today dropped by the Cabinet in the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, reported the [Indian Express]
Karnan opposes own transfer: Madras HC justice CS Karnan, who had complained against the HC’s chief justice and the Chief Justice of India for collegium interference and caste bias, opposed his transfer to another high court on the ground that his presence was needed in the Madras HC until he had proven his allegations against the two senior brother judges [TOI]
JS Verma’s ‘flawed’ & unloved Hindutva verdict: Supreme Court advocate and political commentator AG Noorani points out how the 18-year-old flawed verdict of former Supreme Court justice JS Verma on Hindutva is pending a reference by a constitutional bench, which none of the successive Chief Justices of India have bothered to constitute yet [Frontline]
Govt advocate alleges unfair dismissal: An additional government advocate has challenged his premature removal from his post on the ground that the removal was spurred by the chief minister’s underhand attempt to appoint someone from his own community to the post, and has alleged that the same unfairness has happened to 50 other government advocates in the state [TOI]
Consumer courts clogged, empty in Karnataka: 9,660 cases are pending in Karnataka’s consumer courts after 32 member posts lie vacant across the state [Bangalore Mirror]
Delhi lower judiciary gloom: The Delhi HC’s administrative department has said that vacancies in the city’s lower judiciary cannot be filled because there are not enough courtrooms [Business Standard]
Sesquicentennial bar anniversary: The Advocates Association of Western India will tomorrow begin celebrating its 150th year, with unveiling a portrait of former Chief Justice of India, the late YV Chandrachud, who was once a member of the association [TOI]
SEZ Act 2005 under final examination: Seven years after farmers’ groups, politicians and corporates filed petitions under the SEZ Act against forcible land acquisitions and other issues around setting up of Special Economic Zones in the country, the Supreme Court has begun final hearings for the clubbed bunch of petitions [DNA]
Why HC judges decline SC judgeship: Abhinav Chandrachud, Stanford Law doctoral student and son of the current Allahabad HC chief justice, illustrates that an obsession with hierarchy and seniority weren’t always the defining characteristics of India’s judiciary, and perhaps shouldn’t be, in a percipient history lesson starring former Bombay high court chief justice MC Chagla, who declined the Supreme Court judgeship [Frontline]
Justice Karnan accuses CJI: Madras HC judge CS Karnan yesterday accused Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam of having “usurped” the powers of the collegium in declining the 12 names recommended for the HC’s judgeships, which have been the cause of recent controversy. So far Karnan has barged into the middle of court proceedings on the issue, barged into the HC’s chief justice’s chambers accusing him of bias and shot off a complaint against the chief justice to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes [PTI]
Delhi law min closet skeletons: “Law minister Somnath Bharti is also a ‘spammer’” read a Hindustan Times headline today reporting how Bharti’s relatives ran a company sued for spamming. Over the fortnight Bharti’s career went from newly appointed law minister to professional misconduct accused, criminal-assault accused spammer who is presently under the Bar Council of Delhi’s scanner [Via “OMG.. A Law Breaker & Spammer becomes The Law Minister under the Swaraj of Kejriwal.. Really, its a systemic change.. Dr. Manish Kumar (@DrManishKumar1)”]
Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) president Paul Kanagaraj, with an MHAA “delegation”, met Tamil Nadu governor K Rosaiah seeking his intervention in recalling a list of 12 names recommended for judgeship at the HC, and taking exception to the fact that the recommended advocates were “shortlisted by the collegium on the interference of the Chief Justice of India”, reported the Deccan Chronicle.
Meanwhile the HC’s justice CS Karnan wrote to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes seeking action against chief justice RK Aggarwal for “changing his portfolio [of cases] from Karur to Sivanga”.
Legally India delved into the polico-cultural climate at the Madras Bar, a lot of which apparently revolves around casteism.{jcomments off}