A stormy meeting of the Supreme Court bar association yesterday unanimously requested Chief Justice J S Verma to initiate contempt of court proceedings against those who have attempted to interfere with the course of justice.
The Chief Justice had observed in the court last week that certain gentleman had approached him and Justice S C Sen who were hearing politically sensitive cases like the hawala and the animal fodder scam. He did not name the person, leaving the bar to speculate on his identity.
This has caused embarrassment to several persons and one member today offered to give 12 most probable names at the association meeting. But he was asked not to do so.
Another lamented that friends are pointing fingers at friends and there is a crisis of conscience among the lawyer community. The list of suspects is lengthening every day. Even the names of retired judges are in circulation. Therefore, most members who spoke wanted the Chief Justice to name the `gentleman.
Some members pointed out that the Supreme Court had last year sentenced a senior bureaucrat from Karnataka who met Justice K Ramaswamy in private while his case was pending before the court. The same standard should be applied to this gentleman because the court could not adopt different scales for different persons, however high he may be.
If todays resolution is accepted by the Chief Justice, the person will be automatically named.
An earlier resolution moved by bar president Kapil Sibal did not ask for any specific step it only wanted the Chief Justice to take such further steps as may be necessary.
But at the insistence of the bar members, the amendment to initiate contempt of court proceedings was introduced.
While strongly condemning attempts to pressurise judges, the resolution expressed solidarity with the Chief Justice in thwarting all such attempts.
