Supreme Court registers lawyer's plea for contempt action over Kerala Congress post on CJI

The Supreme Court has registered a lawyer's letter seeking contempt action over a social media post by the Kerala unit of the Congress that told Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to resign. It was registered as a civil writ petition on October 30, the legal news site Bar & Bench reported on Saturday. It has not yet been listed for hearing before a bench.

The post and the letter

On October 12, the official X account of Congress Kerala posted a message addressed to the Chief Justice. In substance, it told him to resign if law and order was not his responsibility, and said a replacement would be found. The post was deleted soon afterwards.

The next day, advocate Vineet Jindal wrote to the Chief Justice arguing that the office of the Chief Justice cannot depend on the approval of a political organisation. He asked the court to consider whether the post was permissible political criticism or could amount to criminal contempt.

His letter also sought an inquiry into an opposition demonstration near the Supreme Court on October 12, reported to have included Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders, to establish whether any restricted area was entered or security rules broken. He asked for CCTV footage, access logs and security deployment records to be preserved. Jindal noted that a peaceful protest or political presence near the court would not by itself amount to contempt.

What the court has already done

This is not the first petition over the events of October 12. On October 15, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and leaders of the INDIA bloc on a plea by four lawyers about the march. That plea also sought contempt action over the post, but the bench declined to issue notice on that part, according to Bar & Bench.

The Congress response

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has tendered an unconditional apology to the Chief Justice. In an October 22 reply to a legal notice from Supreme Court Bar Association joint secretary Meenesh Dubey, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said a party worker had published the post without the leadership's knowledge or consent, and that the worker had been removed from his position.

What happens next

The registered petition will be heard only once it is listed before a bench. Contempt proceedings require the court to decide whether a statement merely criticises it, which is allowed, or scandalises it or interferes with justice, which can be punished.