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, reported The Hindu and others.
“On account of the fact that Justice CS Karnan had received his transfer order, we consider it just and appropriate to allow the Chief Justice of the Madras high court not to allow any further judicial work to him,” Justice JS Khehar ordered, sitting on a bench with Justice B Banumathi.
Senior advocate KK Venugopal told the bench that Karnan had received his transfer order on 12 February which Karnan had treatened to stay suo motu.
Jaskirat Singh Bawa tweeting at @JaskiratSB had shared Karnan’s letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur threatening to stay his transfer to the Calcutta high court.
Karnan had written: “I am apt to constrain Your Lordship’s Order after invoking Article 226 of the Constitution of India, by staying Your Lordship’s tentative recommendation Order dated 12.02.2016… I request Your Lordship not to interfere in my jurisdiction, as I am in the process of finalizing an order on merits.”
Comments
A livid SC sends a contempt notice to the party bringing the claim, but had nothing apparently to say to the judge who admitted that claim.
In these days of PILs, and passing daily orders on how to run the govt. and calling all and sundry for attendance in open court, and of course retaining the right to appoint themselves, it must be particularly painful for their lordships to find their powers challenged from within!!