By Vineet Malik | London , England | November 06 , 2020
In a startling development on Friday, the Apex Court of India issued a Show Cause Notice to the Maharashtra Legislative ( Province in Western India ) Assembly Secretary for Contempt of Court and allegedly intimidating Arnab Goswami – Editor In Chief – Republic TV.
The Supreme Court Bench headed by the Honb’le Chief Justice of India (CJI) and two other Honb’le Justices took a stern view over a letter penned by the Secretary of Maharashtra Assembly.
The letter stated, despite informing the Journalist about the proceedings of Breach of Privilege Motion initiated against him which were termed confidential, the said letter was still produced before the SC in breach of Confidentiality.
The CJI most annoyingly expressed his anguish and said:
“The Officer says , how did you file this Notice in the SC. How dare he ? No one can be stopped from approaching this Court”
“The intention of the Author ( Assembly Secretary ) seems to intimidate the Petitioner ( Goswami ) as he approached this Court and threaten him with a penalty for doing so”
“The Assembly Secretary must know that the right to approach the SC under Article 32 itself was a fundamental right”
The SC Bench made a note that:
“The given statements made by the Secretary are unprecedented and suffer from the tendency to bring the Administration of Justice into disrepute”
In the recent past, Goswami had categorically said that he would relentlessly question Uddhav Thackeray – Chief Minister of Maharashtra and other elected representatives over the illegal Breach of Notice issued to him with ulterior motive.
The Top Court vide order dated November 06, 2020 also mentioned that, the Contemnor shall remain present before this Bench on the next date of hearing. However, the Petitioner shall not be arrested in pursuance of the present proceedings.
Harish Salve – Sr. Advocate told the Bench that, “Cases after Cases are being filed against Arnab Goswami. Constitutional Courts have to see the reality and not the smokescreen.”
Unless there was intermeddling in the functioning of the House or its Committees, Breach of Privilege Motion can not be initiated against an outsider.