TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (5) TMI 94
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....ntemnor no. 2, Shri Rashid Khan Pathan, National Secretary of the Human Rights Security Council. It was mentioned that these complaints have not only been sent to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India but also have been circulated in the social media and the complaints were attached as Annexures­1 and 2 to the said letter. The Bench took note of the letter and the complaints attached to the said letter and specifically noted the prayers made in both the complaints and found that both the complaints are substantially similar. The Bench on noting the allegations made in the complaints was of the view that scandalous allegations have been made against the members of the said Bench and, therefore, notice was issued to Shri Vijay Kurle, alleged contemnor no. 1, Shri Rashid Khan Pathan, alleged contemnor no. 2, Shri Nilesh Ojha, alleged contemnor no. 3 and Shri Mathews Nedumpara, alleged contemnor no. 4. The Bench also directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India to constitute an appropriate Bench to hear and decide the contempt case. 2. After notice was issued, Shri Nedumpara filed an application, being Criminal M.P. No. 60568/2019 for discha....
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....ndian Bar Association. We had given opportunity to Shri Nilesh Ojha to explain his position whether the letter dated 20.03.2019 was sent with his consent or under his authority. 4. It would be pertinent to mention that Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan have not denied that they are the authors of the letters which are signed by them. 5. The basis of the present contempt are the two letters dated 20.03.2019 and 19.03.2019 admittedly signed by alleged contemnor nos. 1 and 2 i.e. Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan respectively. These letters are very lengthy running into more than 250 pages combined. Therefore, it would not be feasible to extract the entire letters but we have no doubt in our mind that the tenor of the letters is highly disrespectful, and scandalous and scurrilous allegations have been levelled against 2 Judges of this Court. 6. The three alleged contemnors have raised a number of preliminary issues. We may summarise the same as follows:­ (i) That the Bench of Justice R. F. Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran could not have taken cognizance of the case because the case was not assigned to them by the Chief Justice and that both the Judges ac....
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.... India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe. (2) Subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Supreme Court shall, as respects the whole of the territory of India, have all and every power to make any order for the purpose of securing the attendance of any person, the discovery or production of any documents, or the investigation or punishment of any contempt of itself." Article 142 also provides that this Court can punish any person for contempt of itself but this power is subject to the provisions of any law made by parliament. A comparison of the provisions of Article 129 and clause (2) of Article 142 clearly shows that whereas the founding fathers felt that the powers under clause 92) of Article 142 could be subject to any law made by parliament, there is no such restriction as far as Article 129 is concerned. The power under clause (2) of Article 142 is not the primary source of power of Court of Record which is Article 129 and there is no such restriction in Article 129. Samaraditya Pal in the Law of Con....
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....till the law." 9. A Constitution Bench of this Court in Shri C. K. Daphtary and Others v. Shri O.P. Gupta and Others 1971 (1) SCC 626 was dealing with a case where the contemnor had published a pamphlet casting scurrilous aspersions on 2 Judges of this Court. During the course of argument, the contemnor raised a plea that all the evidence has not been furnished to him and made a request that the petitioner be asked to furnish the "pamphlet" or "book" annexed to the petition. The Court rejected this argument holding that the booklet/pamphlet had been annexed to the petition in original and the Court had directed that the matter be decided on affidavits. 10. In respect of the absence of a specific charge being framed, the Court held that a specific charge was not required to be framed and the only requirement was that a fair procedure should be followed. Dealing with the Contempt of Courts Act, 1952 this Court held as follows:­ "58. We are here also not concerned with any law made by Parliament. Article 129 shows that the Supreme Court has all the powers of a Court of Record, including the power to punish for contempt of itself; and Article 142(2) goes further and enables us ....
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.... Shri Duda. In the said petition, Shri Duda had written a letter to the Attorney General seeking consent for initiating contempt proceedings against Shri P. Shiv Shanker. A copy of the said letter was also sent to the Solicitor General of India. While seeking consent, the petitioner had also stated that the Attorney General may be embarrassed to give consent for prosecution of the Law Minister and in view of the said allegations, the Attorney General felt that the credibility and authority of the office of the Attorney General was undermined and therefore did not deny or grant sanction for prosecution. The Court held that the petitioner could not move the Court for initiating contempt proceedings against the respondent without consent of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General. The relevant portion of the judgment reads as follows:­ "39. The question of contempt of court came up for consideration in the case of C.K. Daphtary v. O.P. Gupta. In that case a petition under Article 129 of the Constitution was filed by Shri C.K. Daphtary and three other advocates bringing to the notice of this Court alleged contempt committed by the respondents. There this court held that un....
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....r applicable. We may however point out that in the very next paragraph in the same judgment, it was held as follows:­ "40. Our attention was drawn by Shri Ganguly to a decision of the Allahabad High Court in G.N. Verma v. Hargovind Dayal (AIR 1975 All 52) where the Division Bench reiterated that Rules which provide for the manner in which proceedings for contempt of court should be taken continue to apply even after the enactment of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Therefore cognizance could be taken suo motu and information contained in the application by a private individual could be utilised. As we have mentioned hereinbefore indubitably cognizance could be taken suo motu by the court but members of the public have also the right to move the court. That right of bringing to the notice of the court is dependent upon consent being given either by the Attorney General or the Solicitor General and if that consent is withheld without reasons or without consideration of that right granted to any other person under Section 15 of the Act that could be investigated in an application made to the court." 15. The alleged contemnors rely on certain observations in the concurring judg....
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.... first is suo motu, the second is on a petition made by the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, and the third is on the basis of a petition made by any person and where criminal contempt is involved then the consent of the Attorney General or the Solicitor General is necessary. Rules 4 and 5 prescribe for the manner of filing of a petition under Rules 3(b) and 3(c). Rule 4 lays down the requirements of a petition to be filed under Rules 3(b) and 3(c) and Rule 5 requires that every petition under Rule 3(b) or Rule 3(c) shall be placed before the Court for preliminary hearing. Rule 6 requires notice to the person charged to be in terms of Form I. Rule 6 reads as follows:­ "6. (1) Notice to the person charged shall be in Form I. The person charged shall, unless otherwise ordered, appear in person before the Court as directed on the date fixed for hearing of the proceeding, and shall continue to remain present during hearing till the proceeding is finally disposed of by order of the Court. (2) When action is instituted on petition, a copy of the petition along with the annexure and affidavits shall be served upon the person charged." 19. These Rules have been framed by ....
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....also suspended his advocacy for a period of 3 years, relying upon the powers vested in this Court under Article 129 and 142 of the Constitution of India. 23. We may now refer to certain other provisions of Constitution, Entry 77, Union List (List I) of VII Schedule reads as follows: "77. Constitution, organisation, jurisdiction and powers of the Supreme Court (including contempt of such Court), and the fees taken therein; persons entitled to practise before the Supreme Court." Entry 14, Concurrent List (List III of VII Schedule) reads as follows : "14. Contempt of court, but not including contempt of the Supreme Court." In exercise of the aforesaid powers the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 was enacted by Parliament. Section 15 deals with cognizance of criminal contempt and the opening portion of Section 15 clearly provides that the Supreme Court or the High Courts may take action (i) suo motu (ii) on a motion moved by the Advocate General in case of High Court or Attorney General/Solicitor General in the case of Supreme Court and (iii) on a petition by any other person with the consent in writing of the Advocate General/Attorney General / Solicitor General as the case may be. ....
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....rts to deal with contempt in the face of the Court. We have already dealt with Section 15 which deals with cognizance of the criminal contempt other than contempt in the face of the Court. Section 17 lays down the procedure after cognizance. It is in the background of this Act that we have to read and analyse the judgment of the Constitution Bench. 25. The Constitution Bench referred to the provisions of Article 129 of the Constitution of India and also Entry 77 of List I of Seventh Schedule and Entry 14 of List III of the Seventh Schedule and, thereafter, held as follows:­ "18. The language of Entry 77 of List I and Entry 14 of List III of the Seventh Schedule demonstrates that the legislative power of Parliament and of the State Legislature extends to legislate with respect to matters connected with contempt of court by the Supreme Court or the High Court, subject however, to the qualification that such legislation cannot denude, abrogate or nullify, the power of the Supreme Court to punish for contempt under Article 129 or vest that power in some other court." (emphasis supplied) 26. This Court referring to Article 142 of the Constitution held as follows:­ "21. It....
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.... read with Article 142(2). Since, no such law has been enacted by Parliament, the nature of punishment prescribed under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 may act as a guide for the Supreme Court but the extent of punishment as prescribed under that Act can apply only to the High Courts, because the 1971 Act ipso facto does not deal with the contempt jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, except that Section 15 of the Act prescribes procedural mode for taking cognizance of criminal contempt by the Supreme Court also. Section 15, however, is not a substantive provision conferring contempt jurisdiction. The judgment in Sukhdev Singh case (AIR 1954 SC 186 : 1954 SCR 454) as regards the extent of "maximum punishment" which can be imposed upon a contemner must, therefore, be construed as dealing with the powers of the High Courts only and not of this Court in that behalf. We are, therefore, doubtful of the validity of the argument of the learned Solicitor General that the extent of punishment which the Supreme Court can impose in exercise of its inherent powers to punish for contempt of itself and/or of subordinate courts can also be only to the extent prescribed under the Contempt of Courts ....
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.... binds the Supreme Court open. The observations made in Para 38 referred to above clearly indicate that the Constitution Bench was of the view that the punishment prescribed in the Act could only be a guideline and nothing more. Certain observations made in this judgment that the Court exceeded its jurisdiction in Vinay Chandra Mishra's case (supra) by taking away the right of practice for a period of 3 years have to be read in the context that the Apex Court held that Article 129 cannot take over the jurisdiction of the Bar Council of the State or the Bar Council of India to punish an advocate. These observations, in our opinion have to be read with the other observations quoted hereinabove which clearly show that the Constitution Bench held that "Parliament has not enacted any law dealing with the powers of the Supreme Court with regard to investigation and punishment of contempt of itself". The Court also held that Section 15 is not a substantive provision conferring contempt jurisdiction and, therefore, is only a procedural section especially in so far as suo moto contempts are concerned. It is thus clear that the powers of the Supreme Court to punish for contempt committed of ....
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.... has not dealt with the powers of this Court to issue suo motu notice of contempt. 31. In view of the above discussion we are clearly of the view that the powers of the Supreme Court to initiate contempt are not in any manner limited by the provisions of the Act. This Court is vested with the constitutional powers to deal with the contempt. Section 15 is not the source of the power to issue notice for contempt. It only provides the procedure in which such contempt is to be initiated and this procedure provides that there are three ways of initiating a contempt - (i) suo motu (ii) on the motion by the Advocate General/Attorney General/Solicitor General and (iii) on the basis of a petition filed by any other person with the consent in writing of the Advocate General/Attorney General/Solicitor General. As far as suo motu petitions are concerned, there is no requirement for taking consent of anybody because the Court is exercising its inherent powers to issue notice for contempt. This is not only clear from the provisions of the Act but also clear from the Rules laid down by this Court. Objections as to issuance of notice 32. The alleged contemnors have filed applications for discha....
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....and Bombay Incorporated Law Society. The letters of the Bombay Bar Association and Bombay Incorporated Law Society along with all the annexures attached to the said letter have been supplied to the alleged contemnors and they were permitted to file additional replies after receiving all these documents. As mentioned above, this Court had clarified that the action against alleged contemnors is being restricted to the allegations made in the two complaints by Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan of which they are admittedly the authors. Since this Court has not relied upon any of the other documents, we do not see how any prejudice has been caused to the alleged contemnors by the non­supply of the documents along with the notice. As per the Rules of this Court, the notice was only to briefly state nature of the contempt and in the order itself reference has been made to the complaints of Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan. We accordingly see no merit in the argument of the alleged contemnors that the notice was not in consonance with the Rules of this Court or in consonance with the principles of natural justice or fair procedure. Accordingly, we reject the cont....
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.... is concerned, the order passedby this Court clearly shows that this Court after taking note of the letter sent by the President of the Bombay Bar Association and the President of the Bombay Incorporated Law Society, the annexures attached to this letter and after specifically noting the prayers made in the complaints of Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan along with the allegations made in both the complaints was of the view that the allegations levelled against the Members of the Bench were scandalous in nature and therefore, notice was issued to the alleged contemnors and against Shri Nedumpara who has since been discharged. The alleged contemnors are basically urging that the order does not use the word "suo motu". In our view, that would not make any difference. The relevant portion of the order dated 27.03.2019 reads as follows: "Given the two complaints filed, it is clear that scandalous allegations have been made against the members of this Bench. We, therefore, issue notice of contempt to (1) Shri Vijay Kurle; (2) Shri Rashid Khan Pathan; (3) Shri Nilesh Ojha and (4) Shri Mathews Nedumpara to explain as to why they should not be punished for criminal contempt of....
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....e same but without the written consent of the Advocate General as is required in law. The proceedings, therefore, were clearly not maintainable." 37. As pointed out above, in the present case the Bombay Bar Association and the Bombay Incorporated Law Society have never been shown as petitioners. The letter sent by the President of the Bombay Bar Association and the President of the Bombay Incorporated Law Society is not addressed to this Court to initiate contempt proceedings. The letters were addressed to the President of India, the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay and the prayer made therein was that the complaints by the Indian Bar Association and Human Rights Security Council should be rejected. There is no prayer for initiating contempt proceedings. These letters were placed in the office of the Judges of this Court and after taking note of the averments made therein they decided to issue notice of contempt. This is nothing but a suo motu action on reading the complaints and the letter of the President of the Bombay Bar Association and the President of the Bombay Incorporated Law Society and hence this cannot be termed to be a contempt ....
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....le the Chief Justice for listing before an appropriate Bench. This, in our view, is the proper procedure. If an article, letter or any writing or even something visual circulating in electronic, print or social media or in any other forum is brought to the notice of any Judge of this Court which prima facie shows that the allegation is contemptuous or scandalises the court then that Judge can definitely issue notice and thereafter place it before Hon'ble the Chief Justice for listing it before an appropriate Bench. 40. The alleged contemnors have relied upon the judgment in Divine Retreat Centre v. State of Kerala & Others. (2008) 3 SCC 542 wherein it was observed that individual writing should be placed before the Chief Justice as to the proposed action on such petitions. It was held: "71. ...The individual letters, if any, addressed to a particular judge are required to be placed before the Chief Justice for consideration as to the proposed action on such petitions. Each Judge cannot decide for himself as to what communication should be entertained for setting the law in motion be it in PIL or in any jurisdiction." At the outset, we may note that these observations were made ....
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.... pamphlet was, as the petitioners believe, sold or offered for sale to the public by Respondent No. 3" is a matter of belief. Para 6 contains inferences and submissions in respect of which there was no question of disclosing the source of information. Para 7 contains extracts from the booklet or the pamphlet which was attached as an annexure. In view of the document having been attached it was not necessary that the source of information regarding Para 7 should have been disclosed. The allegations in Para 9 of the petition are supported by an affidavit of Mr. B.P. Singh, Advocate, who has verified that the contents in his affidavit are true to his knowledge...." 42. We fail to understand how Shri Vijay Kurle can urge that the source of information should be disclosed. His complaint is addressed amongst all others to Judges of this Court which obviously includes the two Judges who are members of the Bench. 43. In the instant case, the disclosure of the information is made in the order itself where it is clearly recorded that the action has been taken on the basis of the letter sent by the President of the Bombay Bar Association and the President of the Bombay Incorporated Law Soci....
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....to lower the majesty of the institution of the Courts and with a view to tarnish the image, not only of the Judges, but also the Courts, then if such attempts are not checked the results will be disastrous. Section 5 of the Contempt of Courts Act itself provides that publishing of any fair comment on the merits of any case which has been heard and finally decided does not amount to contempt. 46. In Dr. D.C. Saxena v. Hon'ble the Chief Justice of India (1996) 5 SCC 216 after referring to a large number of judgments to which we need not refer, this Court held that though freedom of speech is an essential part of democracy, it is equally necessary for society to regulate such freedom of speech or expression in terms of the exceptions to Article 19 of the Constitution. Bonafide criticism of any institution including the judiciary is always welcome. Healthy and constructive criticism of the judgments cannot amount to contempt of Court. However, if the allegations levelled go beyond the ambit of criticism and scandalise the Court then there can be no manner of doubt that such utterances or written words would amount to contempt of Court. This Court In Re: Arundhati Roy (2002) 3 SCC 343 ....
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....f justice to ridicule must be prevented. The contempt of court proceedings arise out of that attempt. Judgments can be criticised. Motives to the judges need not be attributed. It brings the administration of justice into disrepute. Faith in the administration of justice is one of the pillars on which democratic institution functions and sustains. In the free market­place of ideas criticism about the judicial system or judges should be welcome so long as such criticism does not impair or hamper the administration of justice. This is how the courts should exercise the powers vested in them and judges to punish a person for an alleged contempt by taking notice of the contempt suo motu or at the behest of the litigant or a lawyer. In that case the speech of the Law Minister in a Seminar organised by the Bar Council and the offending portions therein were held not contemptuous and punishable under the Act. In a democracy judges and courts alike are, therefore, subject to criticism and if reasonable argument or criticism in respectful language and tempered with moderation is offered against any judicial act as contrary to law or public good, no court would treat criticism as a conte....
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....jab Vs. Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar & Ors. (2011) 14 SCC 770. That since last 2 years, Advocate Nedumpatra is posting articles against Advocate Fali S. Nariman. He also filed Writ Petition before Delhi High Court being W.P. (C) No.2019 of 2019, where he raised the issue of Advocate Fali Nariman practising in Supreme Court where his son Rohington Fali Nariman is a Judge. Under these circumstances having direct conflict of interest and having prejudice with Advocate Nedumpara, Justice Rohington Fali Nariman was disqualified to hear the case and he should have recused himself from the cases where Advocate Nedumpara is appearing. xxx xxx xxx But instead of maintaining dignity & sobriety of the Supreme Court the Respondent Judge Rohington Fali Nariman heard the case and brought the dignity & majesty of Hon'ble Supreme Court into disrepute." The alleged contemnors have alleged that Shri Nedumpara was posting articles against Shri F. S. Nariman, a senior advocate who happens to be the father of Justice R. F. Nariman. It is alleged that therefore there was a direct conflict of interest and Justice R.F Nariman was disqualified from hearing the case involving Shri Nedumpa....
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....ce Vineet Saran, by judgment and order dated 12th March, 2019, was pleased to hold me guilty for contempt in the face of the Court and list the case for hearing on the question of punishment. 2. I happened to mention the name of Shri Fali S. Nariman to buttress my proposition that even legendary Shri Fali Nariman is of the view that the seniority of a lawyer should be reckoned from the date of his enrolment and nothing else. However, I was misunderstood. I along with some office bearers of the National Lawyers' Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms have instituted Writ Petition No.2199/2019 in the High Court of Delhi for a declaration that the Explanation to Rule 6 of the Bar Council of India Rules is void inasmuch as it explains that the word "Court" does not mean the entire Court, but the particular Court in which the relative of a lawyer is a Judge. I instituted the said petition only to raise the concern many lawyers share with me regarding the immediate relatives practising in the very same Court where their relative is a Judge. In retrospection I realize that it was an error on my part to have arrayed Shri Fali Nariman as a Respondent to the said petition. I regret....
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....as not stated on what basis he has alleged that Shri Nedumpara was threatened by Justice Nariman. Admonishment by a Judge cannot be said to be a threat. Since the alleged contemnors have not placed any material on record to show how Justice Nariman threatened Shri Nedumpara, this itself amounts to making a false accusation against a Judge. Shri Nedumpara in his affidavit has not made any reference to any threats given to him by any Member of the Bench. This clearly shows that the allegation made by Shri Vijay Kurle is false. 56. It is alleged by Shri Vijay Kurle, that Justice Nariman had "misused his power to use material outside the court record and received by personal knowledge without disclosing its source" and therefore, his action was against earlier judgments of this Court and amounted to contempt of this Court. Various judgments have been cited but most of them are not at all relevant to the case in hand. Furthermore, even if he wanted to criticise the judgment on this ground, Shri Vijay Kurle could have used temperate language but what has been said at Page 69 of the first letter is highly contemptuous. The said allegations read as follows: "The malafides of Justice Roh....
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....d matter is still subjudice before sub­ordinate court, have violated Fundamental rights of Advocate Nedumpara and acted against the Constitutional mandate and thereby breached the oath taken as a Supreme Court Judge and is unbecoming of a Judicial officers. Therefore reliance placed by Justice Rohington Fali Nariman on show cause Contempt notice is illegal and shows his lack of knowledge. Hence the one­sided blanket reliance by some illiterate Judges having half­backed knowledge of law will broke the fabric of cardinal principles of criminal and civil jurisprudence. VI) CONSPIRACY TO DISTROY IMAGE AND KEEP ADVOCATE AWAY FROM HIS CLIENTS CAUSING SERIOUS PREJUDICES TO THEIR SUBJUDICE CAUSE EX­FACE PROVED: In the present case Justice Nariman is being aggrieved by Petitions filed by Nedumpara against his father Fali Nariman and also against his close Justice Kathawalla and therefore had taken reference of different irrelevant cases and inadmissible evidences. The object of the Justice Nariman as stated eatlier, is not really to cleanse and purify the legal profession, or to protect dignity and majesty of justice but to silence the advocates who appear for his op....
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....ate an atmosphere of prejudice against some clients is a false allegation for which no supporting material has been given by the alleged contemnors in their reply. We do not even understand how the order passed in Writ Petition (C) No. 191 of 2019 or in Suo Motu Contempt Petition No. 1 of 2019 would lead to the conclusion that some clients would be prejudiced as no advocate would accept their brief. There is no basis for this absolutely false allegation which also amounts to contempt of Court. 64. On Page 81 of the first complaint Shri Vijay Kurle has stated as follows: "It is settled law that person having half backed knowledge of law should not be allowed to participate in court proceedings [Vide: N. Natarajan Vs. B.K. Subba Rao AIR 2003 SC 541] Then how the person having half backed knowledge will be allowed to hold the post of Judges in the of the Highest Court of Country i.e. Supreme Court. This Country had seen the activities of Justice Karnan, where he had passed sentence of punishment against the Judges of Supreme Court. In the present case, the advocate, who is also officer of the Court is being punished by Justice Rohington Nariman & Justice Vineet Saran (both are ....
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.... but the allegation that observations of Justice Nariman amount to contempt of Court or show his poor level of understanding and lack of basic understanding of law is not language which a lawyer is expected to use against a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court. Again, in this very quoted portion a totally unfounded allegation has been made that Justice Nariman was aggrieved since allegations had been levelled against his close Judge of the Bombay High Court (Justice S.J. Kathawala). The conclusion drawn by Shri Vijay Kurle is not only incorrect but totally false and appears to have been done with the mala fide intention of harming the reputation of Justice Nariman and raising questions with regard to his impartiality or ability. In fact, Writ Petition No.(L)­1180 of 2018 was filed by Shri Nedumpara before the Bombay High Court praying that criminal action under Contempt of Courts Act be initiated against Justice Kathawala. This writ petition was dismissed by the Bombay High Court. The Bombay High Court did not decide whether Shri Nedumpara had committed contempt of Court or not. But the allegations made by Shri Nedumpara were not accepted. This means that the Bombay High Court di....
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....e trying to make the Court as their personal property. Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely. And such type of Judge are running syndicate to extort money for giving favourable orders to the underserving people." We are constrained to observe that Shri Vijay Kurle has totally misread and misquoted the order of Justice R.F. Nariman. In Para 8 of the said order in Writ Petition (C) No. 191 of 2019 after referring to the order passed by a learned Single Judge of the Bombay High Court it is recorded that Shri Nedumpara filed Writ Petition No.L­1180 of 2018 in his own name against the learned Single Judge of the Bombay High Court who has passed the order and the learned Single Judge was arrayed as the sole respondent in the said writ petition. The Court records that the petition was dismissed as not maintainable. Therefore, the allegations made, that the matter was subjudice are totally false and misleading. The Court has noted that the matter has been finally decided and no material has been placed on record to show that this judgment has been challenged. 71. What is even more shocking is the next paragraph where it is stated that criminal minded judges by twisting facts and by misl....
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....iable to be removed forthwith by using powers under "In­HouseProcedure' as done in Justice Karnan's case." Again, the allegations made are totally scandalous. Alleging that a judge has passed an order as an outcome of his frustrated mind is, in our opinion, a highly scandalous allegation. The other allegation that the order was passed with a view to help Justice Kathawala is equally scandalous. These allegations also amount to contempt. 73. On Page 93 of the first letter the following allegations have been made: "So Division Bench of Hon'ble Bombay High Court which decided the Writ Petition of Mr. Nedumpara did not find it as Contempt. Full Bench of Supreme Court did not find it as Contempt but after 8 months Justice Rohington Fali Nariman call it as contemptuous it not only being judicial impropriety to be abide by views of larger bench but even by brother Judges but also proves ulterior motive of Justice Nariman. The Petition for prosecution of Judge can never be contempt if not being frivolous. Rather it is duty of the advocate to make complaint of corrupt Judges." 74. Further on Page 134 of the first letter the alleged contemnors have made the following allegations: ....
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.... Fali Nariman to make such irrelevant, unlawful and uncalled for observation. It is clear that said observations are made with ulterior motive to save his friend Justice S.J. Kathawalla and therefore liable to be prosecuted under section 218 of Indian Penal Code. XIV) CHARGE # INABILITY TO INTERPRET THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT: In para 9 of the judgment Justice Rohington Fali Nariman relied upon the Constitution Bench judgment in the case of Sukhdev Singh Sodhi v. Chief Justice S. Teja Singh, 1954 SCR 454 to interpret that as per said ruling the Judge who is personally attacked has to hear the matter himself. In fact the law laid down in the said judgment is exactly contrary." The allegation that Justice Nariman acted with ulterior motive to save his friend Justice Kathawala for the reasons stated above is a totally scandalous and contemptuous allegation. The next allegation is that Justice Nariman acted in violation of a judgment of this Court in Sukhdev Singh Sodhi's case (supra). Without commenting on the correctness or otherwise of the allegations, the following observations under this heading are totally contemptuous: "This ex­facie proved very poor level of understa....
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.....387 of 2019 [Aarish Asgar Qureshi vs. Fareed Ahmed Qureshi 2019 SCC OnLine SC 306] had with malafide intention to help accused had observed that police report have no evidentiary value for directing enquiry against the accused husband on the application given by wife. xxx xxx xxx But accused Judges in a hurry to help accused entertained the appeal against the order directing the compliant and passed order in utter disregard and defiance of law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court and also against the statutory provisions of Section 341 of Criminal Procedure Code and acted unconstitutionally." Not only are these allegations scandalous and contemptuous and undermine the authority of this Court, but this clearly shows that the Shri Vijay Kurle was aware of the complaint filed by Shri Rashid Khan Pathan. This clearly indicates that Shri Rashid Khan Pathan had not only sent the complaint to the Hon'ble President of India and the Chief Justice of India but had communicated the same to others including Shri Vijay Kurle and therefore, this complaint was available in the public domain. 2 nd Complaint dt.19.03.2019 by Shri Rashid Khan Pathan 80. We now take up the complaint filed by Sh....
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....tion could be filed. We cannot go into the merits of the judgment but even assuming that the judgment is not in consonance with the judgment of the Constitution Bench then also that is no ground to allege mala fide against the Judges comprising the Bench. He has also made allegations that the Judges have breached the oath of office and acted in a biased manner. 83. One of the reasons given by Shri Rashid Khan Pathan forfiling the complaint is that he had filed a complaint against Shri Fali S. Nariman, Senior Advocate of this Court, alleging antinational activities being committed by Shri Fali S. Nariman. In that case, Shri Rashid Khan Pathan was represented by Shri Nilesh Ojha, alleged contemnor no.3. On this ground, it is averred that Justice Nariman should not have heard the matter. The complaint in question is stated to have been filed on 19.02.2019. No material has been placed on record to show whether notice, if any, was issued on this complaint. The judgment in question was delivered on 26.02.2019 and there was no request by Shri Nilesh Ojha that any of the Judges should recuse from the hearing of the matter. There is no material to show that the factum of this complaint was....
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....ice Rohinton Fali Nariman acted in utter disregard and difiance of Constitution Bench's judgment even if it was brought to his notice. This is sufficient to prove the malafides of the accused Judges i.e. Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman & Justice Vineet Saran." Pg. 62 "But here the Respondent Judges breach the oath taken as a Judge by acting contrary to law and in a biased manner and therefore they forfeited their right to sit on the chair of highest Court of the Country." Pg. 71 "38). POOR LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING OF A JUDGE:­ xxx xxx xxx" Pg. 77 "45). Under these circumstance Justice Rohington Fali Nariman having knowledge of personal enmity between his father and Adv. Nilesh Ojha, instead of recusing himself, heard the case represented by Adv. Nilesh Ojha and out of his earlier prejudices passed the illegal order by willful disregard and defiance of the various law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court." 85. The allegations in the portions which have been quoted above allege that the Bench passed orders in wilful disobedience of law and committed contempt of court, that the judges deliberately and conveniently ignored certain portions of the judgment cited, th....
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....ssest form of contempt because the intention was to intimidate the Judges so that they should desist from taking action against Shri Nedumpara. Shri Nedumpara in his affidavit filed in this Court stated that he barely knew Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Nilesh Ojha. According to him, he did not know Shri Rashid Khan Pathan at all. On the basis of the statement we have discharged Shri Nedumpara. He, in fact, stated that he came to know about these complaints only after notice was issued and his colleague Mrs. Amin took out the complaints filed by Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan from the social media. 88. In the complaint filed by Shri Vijay Kurle there are references to many documents and allegations that certain issues raised in the Court were ignored. The order dated 12.03.2019 convicting Shri Nedumpara which is the fulcrum of the complaint of Shri Vijay Kurle was passed without issuing notice to Shri Nedumpara. Shri Vijay Kurle alleges ignorance of law and failure to comply with various Constitution Bench judgments without even caring to ascertain whether these judgments were actually cited before the Bench or not. There can be no manner of doubt that this complaint by S....
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....Rashid Khan Pathan is basically waging a war against the Members of the Bench and against this Court at the instance of Shri Nilesh Ojha, if not Shri Nedumpara because in his complaint he states that Shri Nilesh Ojha was the lawyer for the respondent before the Court and could be the only person who could have supplied the material to Shri Rashid Khan Pathan. Alleged Contemnor No. 3­Shri Nilesh Ojha 91. This brings us to Shri Nilesh Ojha, alleged contemnor no. 3. At the outset, we may point out that Mr. Nedumpara in his discharge application has very clearly disassociated himself from the letters and has stated that he barely knows Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Nilesh Ojha and has also stated that he has no concern with the communication sent by them. This is not the stand of alleged contemnor no. 3, Mr. Nilesh Ojha. He is the National President of the Indian Bar Association of which Mr. Vijay Kurle is the State President. During these entire proceedings he has relied upon a technical objection that he has not signed the letters, but the tenor of his written submission as well as the various affidavits again show that he has not disassociated from what has been said in the compla....
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.... these complaints were sent to the President of India with a view to browbeat this Court so that this Court is terrorised into not taking action against Shri Nedumpara. In a matter which was still pending in so far as imposition of punishment was concerned, Shri Vijay Kurle and Shri Rashid Khan Pathan had no business sending these communications. These communications were widely circulated on social media, as is apparent from the affidavit of Mrs. Rohini M. Amin filed in the present case where she has stated that she obtained a copy of the complaint from the social media. Shri Rashid Khan Pathan had addressed his complaint only to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India. As far as the complaint of Shri Vijay Kurle is concerned, it is addressed to many other persons including all Judges of the Supreme Court, all Judges of all the High Courts, all State Bar Councils and the Bar Council of India. Obviously, the President of India or the Chief Justice of India did not put this complaint on social media and only Shri Rashid Khan Pathan could have done so. It was also obvious that this was done only with the active connivance and with the consent of Shri Nilesh Ojha since h....