Mayor pulled up for comment on Cunha
Madras high court ordered notice to the mayor for publicising the regret
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-11-12 04:56 GMT
Chennai: Rejecting the apology tendered by Vellore mayor P. Karthiyayini to the Vellore corporation commissioner for passing a resolution condemning the Bengaluru special court judge John Michael D’ Cunha for convicting former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary, J. Jayalalithaa, in a disproportionate assets case in September, the Madras high court ordered notice to the mayor for publicising the regret.
When the matter came up on Tuesday before the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, the bench said in a letter addressed to the corporation filed by the mayor, she expressed regret.But in our view, this does not suffice. The regret, if any, has to be addressed to the judge whom she had scandalised and to the judiciary, by filing an appropriate affidavit if she felt sorry for what she had done. Before issuing a criminal contempt notice to the mayor, it is appropriate to implead the mayor and the Samuthur panchayat president, and ordered notice to her for expressing and publicising her regret, the bench said.
The commissioner, in an affidavit, submitted that the resolution passed by the corporation was different from what was reported in the press. It was conceded that the read out text handed over to her by councillors was offensive and derogatory to the judiciary and more specifically, the judge concerned.