HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA Vs. K SANKARAN NAYAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE respondents 1 to 5 are the printer and publisher, the Managing Director, the Chief Editor, the Resident Editor and the Journalist employed on the paper of a daily newspaper known as "the Indian Express". In the issue of the said newspaper dated 8-1-1998 of the Bangalore edition, a leading article was published or appeared at the front page under the heading or under the caption "sethi v Saldanha: Battle in High Court". The said news item also carried the photographs of the Hon'ble Chief Justice and the learned Single Judge of this Court with their names printed under each photograph as "sethi", and "saldanha". The news item that was published at the front page in the Bangalore Edition of the daily newspaper, "the Indian express" dated 8-1-1998, with a caption, "sethi v Saldanha: Battle in High Court", is reproduced hereunder:

(2.) THE purport of the said article or the above said news item was that a direction from the karnataka High Court Chief Justice to the High Court Judges asking them not to take up the cases suo motu or otherwise, on matters outside their assignments has kicked up a row with justice M. F. Saldanha stating that it will amount to the handcuffing of High Court Judges. It is stated that taking exception to such a direction, the learned Single Judge told the newspaper that "stance of Sethi went against the powers vested in a High Court Judge by Article 226 of the constitution". The said news item further states that the other High Court Judges whom this newspaper had contacted said they would not be a party to the issue and that on the contrary some of them admitted that the directions from Sethi would help to streamline the functioning of the Court. The article concludes with the following paragraphs or the passage:

(3.) IT would be of some relevance to mention here itself that this Court has with the previous approval of the Government of Karnataka, framed, in exercise of its powers conferred by Article 225 of the Constitution and Section 54 of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956 (Central Act 37 of 1956), read with Sections 122 and 129 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Section 19 of the mysore High Court Act and all other powers thereunto enabling the High Court of Karnataka, the Rules with respect to practice and procedure to be followed at the High Court. Rule 6 of the high Court of Karnataka Rules appearing in Chapter III under the heading constitution of benches, envisages or prescribes that the Benches shall be constituted and judicial work of the court allotted or distributed to them by or in accordance with the directions of Chief Justice. In this context, it would now be useful to refer to the following observations made by the Hon'ble supreme Court in the case of State of Rajasthan v Prakash Chand and Others, which reads thus: