VINCENT PANIKULANGARA Vs. V R KRISHNA IYER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Quite often a Judge comes across a case which has no precedent. But rarely has a case as unique as the one before us arisen in a Court.

(2.) Shri. V. R. Krishna Iyer, formerly a Judge of this Court, later a Judge of the Supreme Court was one or the distinguished guests at the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Court held in October- November, 1981. At a symposium organized on that occasion on Approach of Judicial ReformsTT, Shri Krishna Iyer as a main speaker addressed the assembled audience. One of the Judges of this Court Sri. G. Viswanatha Iyer was then in the chair. Sri Vincent Panikulangara, the petitioner is said to have attended that symposium and according to him the speech delivered by Shri V. R. Krishna Iyer amounted to scandalization of the authority of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and therefore Shri V. R. Krishna Iyer is guilty of criminal contempt. He moved the Advocate General for sanction which the Advocate General gave.

(3.) The offending passage according to the petitioner, are those stated in paragraph 8 of the petition. We will extract that paragraph here: 8. The speech of the respondent contained among other things the following expressions against the functioning of the judiciary.