SC cautions lawyers against signing pleas without reading details

THE COURT ISSUED A SHOW-CAUSE CONTEMPT NOTICE TO AN ADVOCATE ON RECORD, WHO SIGNED A PETITION THAT BORE SNIDE REMARKS AGAINST A HIGH COURT

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court lawyers putting their signatures on petitions without paying attention to the smallest details, beware. The apex court on Friday issued a show-cause notice of contempt to an advocate on record (AOR), who signed a petition that bore snide remarks against a high court and imputed bias on the judges there.

A bench headed by justice BR Gavai issued show-cause notices of contempt to the AOR as well as the petitioner, taking strong umbrage at the “derogatory” statements made in the petition filed challenging an order of the Karnataka HC in September.

The bench underlined a 1955 judgment of the top court, which cautioned the lawyers against putting their stamps on pleadings without carefully going through them. “The constitution bench of this court in the case of MY Shareef and Another Vs The Hon’ble Judges of the High Court of Nagpur and Ors (1955) has held that even a lawyer who subscribes his signatures to such derogatory and contemptuous averments is guilty for committing contempt of the court,” noted the bench, which also included justice BV Nagarathna.

The court said: “Issue notice, returnable on December 2, 2022, to the petitioner, Mohan Chandra P, as well as the Vipin Kumar Jai, as to why an action for contempt of the court be not initiated against them.”

The petitioner, a lawyer and a former civil judge, had challenged the appointment of various persons to the posts of the state chief information commissioner and state information commissioner, but his plea was dismissed by the high court not only for lacking merit but also for suppressing clear facts about his antecedents.