The Rajasthan High Court on Saturday issued notice to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and directed him to file his response to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which has sought the initiation of suo motu contempt proceedings against him for his recent remarks alleging “corruption in the judiciary”.
Earlier this week, Mr. Gehlot had said here that it had come to his knowledge that lawyers wrote judgments and took them to the judges, who then pronounced them without any alteration. He also said the situation was very serious in both the lower and higher judiciary. He later clarified that whatever he had stated was not his personal opinion, reiterating his belief in and respect for the judiciary.
The PIL petition was moved in the High Court’s Jaipur Bench by a lawyer, Shiv Charan Gupta, who contended that Mr. Gehlot had “scandalised and lowered the authority of courts” by his remarks carried in the newspapers. The petition sought cognisance of Mr. Gehlot’s statement under Article 215 of the Constitution.
A Division Bench comprising Justices M.M. Shrivastava and Ashutosh Kumar said the contents of the statement, if made by the respondent, Mr. Gehlot, prima facie made out a case that it tended to scandalise the courts. The remarks did not refer to any particular case or category of cases, but were general in nature against the judiciary as a whole, the court observed.
“We are inclined to seek response of the respondent with regard to the statements which are attributed to him in this petition on the basis of the newspaper reports,” the Bench said, while issuing notice to Mr. Gehlot, returnable in three weeks. The case was listed for further hearing on October 3.
Though the Chief Minister said in his clarification that he had always respected and had full faith in the judiciary, lawyers boycotted work in the High Court’s principal seat in Jodhpur and the Bench in Jaipur as well as the lower courts on Friday in protest against his remarks.
