SC strips Justice Karnan of all work, issues contempt notice

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stripped Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan of all judicial and administrative work and asked him to appear personally in court on February 13 to explain why contempt action should not be taken against him for his intemperate allegations against several sitting and returned judges.

A seven-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of india J S Khehar took the action after the attorney general Mukul Rohtagi urged the court to make an example of him for bringing the court into disrepute.

Justice Karnan has always been a controversial figure who has alleged case discrimination against him and not hesitated to flout judicial discipline.


He has overruled judicial decisions of equivalent benches, called cases to himself and decided them out of turn.

An unseemly fight with the then sitting High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had seen him transferred to Calcutta High Court under protest.

Kaul has since been elevated to the top court. Karnan has also courted controversy as a Calcutta High Court judge.