SC refuses to hear Karnan’s petition

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to register a writ petition filed by Justice C.S. Karnan, of the Calcutta high court, to recall the May 9 order sentencing him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

The Supreme Court has refused to register a writ petition filed by Justice C.S. Karnan, of the Calcutta high court, to recall the May 9 order sentencing him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court. The top court said his petition was not maintainable. As a result, Justice Karnan has no other option but to surrender and serve the sentence as his plea to the President for mercy is unlikely to be considered in the next few days.

An order passed by the registrar (judicial) on May 12 said, “The proceedings were decided on merit, and after due consideration... As a sequel, the petitioner also stands convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for six months. The said findings have since attained finality.”

The registrar said that it was well settled that judicial proceedings of the apex court are not amenable to challenge under Article 32 of the Constitution. He said, “I am constrained to hold that the writ petition is not maintainable. The relief, if any, lies somewhere else. I, thus, see no reasonable cause to receive the present writ petition for registration.”

In his petition, Justice Karnan said that the entire proceeding from February 8, when the contempt notice was issued, to his conviction and sentence, was without jurisdiction.