NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court issued notices to Arun Shourie, the editor of Indian Express, asking him to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him in connection with an editorial published in the daily on August 13.
The court suo moto took cognizance of the editorial published in connection with Kuldip Singh Commission which inquired into charges of corruption against the former Karnataka chief minister Ram Krishna Hedge and directed Shourie to appear in person before the court on October 8.
The notices returnable by October 8 was issued by a division bench comprising the chief justice Sabyasachi Mukharji, Justice MH Kania and M N Venkatachaliah.
The order read out by the chief Justice said “we have seen the editorial published in the Indian Express and also sought opinion of the attorney general.”
We feel that para two and three of the editorial fell under the section two (C) contempt of court proceedings act,” the order said,
The notice was also issued under article 129 of the constitution which says that the Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.
The court also referred to an article published in the August 25 issue of “Current” magazine.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990
