Fugitive judge Karnan seeks audience with President, PM
Chennai: In the latest development, the absconding Calcutta High Court judge C.S. Karnan, who is facing a six-month jail term as per a Supreme Court order in connection with a defamation case, has written a letter to the President and Prime Minister seeking an audience with them.
“It is a fundamental principle of law that in praesentia majoris potestatis, minor potestas cessat – in the presence of the superior power, the minor power ceases and I have sought the intervention of His Excellency”, Justice Karnan said in the letter recalling his earlier petition to the President seeking intervention under Article 72 of the Indian constitution. “I continue to face the threat of arrest, despite the DGPs of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal being kept abreast of the steps taken”, Karnan said further in the letter, which was released to the media through his lawyer.
“My removal from office by the Supreme Court by its order of conviction and sentence dated 9 May 2017 is absolutely unconstitutional,” Karnan claims in the letter. Saying that the order of the Supreme Court sentencing him has created a judicial and constitutional crisis. It is time for the President to step in to protect the majesty of the law, the independence of the judiciary and, above all, the supremacy of the Parliament in matters which fall within its exclusive domain, he added.
The ‘National Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency’ is spearheading the movement to reach out Delhi politicians as a late attempt to get the SC order against Calcutta High Court judge cancelled.
Justice Karnan has been in the news after a seven-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice J.S. Khehar, sentenced him to six months imprisonment on May 9 in a contempt case. The SC had ordered the West Bengal police to execute the order.
The Supreme Court had, on May 1, ordered Karnan’s medical examination on the ground that he was medically unfit to defend himself to the contempt proceedings initiated on February 8 for his letters to the PM and constitutional authorities seeking probe against certain judges. But Justice Karnan refused to undergo a medical test and on May 8 he had passed an order of jail term against eight SC judges. Following this, the SC had ordered his arrest on May 9. Karnan remains untraceable since May 10.