AG Venugopal declines consent for contempt action against Sibal

Attorney General K K Venugopal has refused his consent to a lawyer seeking contempt action against senior advocate Kapil Sibal for alleged "professional misconduct" while arguing in the Supreme Court on a plea regarding the CJI impeachment issue.

The lawyer, in his petition, also said that Sibal had allegedly committed "willful and deliberate contempt of court" by threatening to boycott the court proceedings after his plea for adjourning the Ayodhya case hearing till July 2019 was declined.

The Attorney General, whose nod is pre-requisite for initiation of the contempt proceedings against an individual, in his opinion said, "The issues mentioned in your (lawyer Ashok Pande) request for consent for filing a criminal contempt against Kapil Sibal have been in public domain for a considerable period of time and had finally resulted in impeachment proceedings being rejected by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha."
Vengugopal said, "What is more, the filing of a motion for impeachment was pursuant to a constitutional provision that reached its logical conclusion in a manner known to law. I do not believe that these facts can be a subject matter of contempt."
He said, "I may also add that I do not think it would be in the interest of this institution that is the Supreme Court of India to file a criminal contempt on the facts stated by you. For all the above reason, I decline to give my consent to the filing of the contempt petition."
Venugopal also rejected the request made by lawyer Pande, for oral hearing saying, "the Contempt of Courts Act does not provide for such a hearing to be given."