High Court initiates suo motu contempt proceedings against three

The Madras High Court today initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against two advocates and a litigant on a letter in which they had cast "contemptuous aspersions" against some judges of the court.

Rejecting apologies tendered by advocates Jai Shankar and S Patabhiram, a Larger Bench comprising seven judges directed the court registry to number the suo motu contempt petition and issue notice to the lawyers and A Vimala and post the matter for hearing on March 8 and ordered the three to be present in the court on that day.

The bench in its order said the letter "in dictatory terms said that about 13 judges, right from the Chief Justice and senior most judges should not hear their matter".

The contemnors had also cast some aspersions on a division bench of the court comprising justices K N Basha and Paul N Vasanthakumar by stating that the judges should not hear a case filed by them.

The bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and justices Elipe Dharma Rao, D Murugesan, C Nagappan, R Banumathi, K Mohan Ram and P Jothimani will take up the question as to whether 'unfounded and irresponsible' the allegations of the advocates and clients against judges of the high court and complaints to the Chief Justice that he or she had lost faith in a particular judge would amount to criminal contempt.

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The order said the need for constitution of the Larger Bench had arisen because of the continuous complaints received by the Chief Justice from a few advocates and allegations and aspersions maligning judges.

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