Supreme Court expunges Punjab & Haryana HC’s scandalous remarks against the top court’s stay order
Today (August 07, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice BR Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant expunged the remarks made by Punjab & Haryana High Court in its order criticizing a stay order passed by the SC in a contempt of court case. The bench hearing the suo motu case said that the observations made by the HC are a ‘matter of grave concern’. During the proceedings, CJI said, “We are pained by the observations made by the single judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court while dealing with a contempt case…The observations are made in regard to an order passed by the Supreme Court.” The SC bench, in its order, observed, “Justice Rajbir Sehrawat has made observations in regard to the Supreme Court of India, which are a matter of grave concern...Judicial discipline in the context of the hierarchical nature of the judicial system is intended to preserve the dignity of all institutions whether at the level of District Court, or High Court or Supreme Court.”
The bench added, “The observations which were made in the order of the single judge were unnecessary for the ultimate order which was passed. Gratuitous observations in regard to the previous orders passed by the Supreme Court are absolutely unwarranted. Compliance with the orders passed by the Supreme Court is not a matter of choice but a matter of bounden constitutional obligation. Parties may be aggrieved by an order. Judges are never aggrieved by an order passed by a higher constitutional forum. Such observations tend to bring the entire judicial machinery into disrepute. This affects not only the dignity of this Court but also the High Court.” The bench noted that a division bench of the HC had taken suo motu notice of Justice Rajbir Sehrawat’s order and stayed it. Therefore, the CJI said, “Thus we will expunge the remarks of the judge and express that observations in the order are scandalous ... SC must also use its powers with great caution and remedy by us should not cause greater judicial harm.”
Moreover, the CJI said that a video clip of the Punjab & Haryana HC proceeding where a single-judge bench made unnecessary remarks was in circulation. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that in the video clip, it could be seen that the judge declared the top court’s order ‘non-est’ and would not follow the division bench’s stay order. CJI said, “This tendency of making gratuitous observations on the work of the Supreme Court...we all work in a hierarchical situation. That discipline has to be maintained. Judges are not to be aggrieved by the orders passed by the higher courts. The observations made in the order are scandalous. We will expunge them. They border on the exercise of contempt jurisdiction.”
Along with this, the SC emphasized the need for judges to exercise restraint while conducting proceedings and noted in the order, “A video of the judge is doing the rounds where the judge is using gratuitous and unwarranted remarks during the hearing. In the age of live streaming, it is necessary that judges exercise greater restraint during proceedings and the observations made can cause impalpable harm to the judicial process. We expect certain circumspection shall be exercised in the future. We desist from directing any judicial enquiry at this stage but as per our constitutional duty, we were bound to intervene. Thus remarks from the order stand expunged. We hope the court would not have to interfere in a similar matter in the future in relation to the same judge or any other judge of this country.”
