MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to the Secretary and Senior Legal Advisor of the department of law and judiciary, Dilip Ghumare, for an allegedly “aggressive and high-pitched” outburst against the court administration during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL).
The court questioned the additional government pleader (AGP) PP Kakade about the averment. As he was unable to provide a clear and unequivocal response, the court asked Ghumare to identify the relevant averments and questioned who had filed the affidavit. The alleged comments were made while the court was hearing an interim application in connection with a 2013 PIL. During the hearing, the court referred to its order dated August 24 and an affidavit filed by Ghumare dated August 27, which claimed that 179 new posts had been created for fast track courts.
Ghumare’s “unwarranted outburst and aggressive demeanour deliberately displayed before an open court in full public view while attempting to justify his stand not only scandalised the court but undermined and attempted to lower its authority, constituting contempt under the Constitution of India and the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971”, a division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata observed. Rather than respond to the court’s query, Ghumare responded in “an aggressive, high-pitched tone inter alia blaming the high court administration”. He also claimed before a packed courtroom that “the high court administration was responsible for not filling up the 179 posts”.
This expectation becomes imperative when the person in question is himself a judicial officer, the court noted.
The bench said that Ghumare’s “intemperate outburst against the court’s administration in full public view constituted a deliberate and unwarranted assault upon the dignity and authority of this court”; such conduct was manifestly unbecoming of any judicial officer, simply outrageous, and fell far below the standard expected by the court, the judges said. The court further said that it is a settled practice that all litigants are expected to maintain decorum and respect the sanctity of proceedings. the bench observed that his conduct was “wholly unpardonable and cannot be countenanced” While Ghumare apologised before the court for his behaviour. Ghumare could not certainly forget that he was a judicial officer and his position did not confer on him the privilege to treat the court with utter disrespect, the bench said.
