The Supreme Court on Friday issued a bailable warrant against Justice CS Karnan as the Calcutta High Court judge failed to appear in person in court in the ongoing contempt case against him.
The apex court directed West Bengal Director General of Police to personally serve the warrant to Justice CS Karnan.
On February 8, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court had issued a notice to Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnan, asking him to appear in person on February 13 in the suo motu proceedings initiated against him by the apex court. The date was later pushed to March 9.
The bench also directed Justice Karnan to withdraw from all legal and administrative work and return all the files to the high court. The top court has asked its registry to furnish a copy of the order to Justice Karnan during the course of the day.
The seven-member bench included Chief Justice JS Khehar, and Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Kurian Joseph. Justice Karnan is the first serving high court judge against whom such proceedings have been initiated.
The proceedings were initiated after Justice Karnan allegedly wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Justice, and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, levelling allegations of corruption against certain members of the higher judiciary.
The next hearing is scheduled for March 31.
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