Gujarat HC Initiates Suo Motu Contempt Proceedings Against Senior Counsel for ‘Unparliamentary’ Remarks

The Gujarat High Court has taken suo motu contempt proceedings against senior counsel Percy Kavina for allegedly using “unparliamentary” and “disparaging” words against a sitting judge.

A division bench of Justice AS Supehia and Justice MR Mengedey, invoking Article 215 of the Indian Constitution and the Contempt of Courts Act, initiated the proceedings and directed the registrar general of the High Court to compile a report containing all the relevant details and investigate the senior counsel’s address. However, Senior Counsel Kavina requested the division bench not to proceed with the contempt proceedings and instead allow him to personally apologize to the sitting judge without any conditions.

During the hearing before the division bench, Kavina acknowledged the seriousness of contempt proceedings and expressed his desire to resolve the matter by offering an unconditional apology.

The bench, acknowledging the gravity of the incident that had affected the dignity and majesty of the court, stated that the issue was indeed serious.

Nonetheless, the bench granted Senior Counsel Kavina permission to apologize directly to the single judge, exploring the possibility of resolving the matter. Consequently, Kavina appeared before the single judge and tendered his apology, acknowledging that his remarks were intemperate and had brought disrepute to the judiciary. He further stated that his submissions were unwarranted. As an act of atonement, he declared that he would not appear in the case again.

Pursuant to this, the single judge ordered-

“It is the submission of learned senior counsel Mr Percy Kavina to accept his unconditional apology. It is further submitted by learned senior counsel Mr Percy Kavina that only the court concerned can accept or reject the unconditional apology tendered by him… In view of the above submissions, this court is of the opinion that what has happened on 07.07.2023, should not have happened and the words used by learned senior counsel Mr Percy Kavina were derogatory.”

The court noted that since the proposed suo motu contempt proceedings had not yet begun, senior counsel Kavina could approach the respective division bench to seek an unconditional apology. However, as the single judge did not record whether the apology was accepted or not, the matter will be brought before the division bench on July 17.