[BREAKING] Supreme Court sets aside CAT order convicting Advocate Mehmood Pracha for contempt

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sets aside the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) convicting Advocate Mehmood Pracha for contempt of court [Mehmood Pracha v. CAT]..A Bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy held that a denial of the right to trial, as contemplated under the Contempt of Courts Act and the Central Administrative Tribunal Rules, resulted in a miscarriage of justice."We are allowing this appeal only on the ground that the procedure under the Act and in the Rules which relate to adducing of evidence when there is a denial of charge, was not followed. We would undoubtedly have had no reservation in upholding the order if there was evidence to support the charge as framed against the appellant" the Bench said. .The Supreme Court had in August last year asked Pracha to tender an unconditional apology in the contempt case. Back then, it had observed,"What we are looking at is, there is not previous history to it. On condition that Mr Pracha will file an unconditional apology before the tribunal, we will consider setting aside the order and whole thing goes. He is a lawyer and he will move on. All of us commit mistakes but the idea is that one makes amends at the earliest," said Justice Joseph.Pracha maintained that since he has committed no wrong, he will not apologise. The Court clarified that it was not compelling him to do anything and that the judges of the Court are not "12 century lords of England.""We are not like Lords here in the 12th century England. That is not the idea you see! We don't (want to) put any condition. It should be unconditional. This will serve your interest and also the dignity of the tribunal. Everyone commits mistakes. The whole idea is at some point you say sorry.".When Pracha said that the contempt of court case was registered against him only because he was defending the "honour of the Supreme Court", the Bench said,"You could have brought it separately here in this Court. Two wrongs cannot make a right.The Bench thus asked Pracha to place on record the charges against him, after he suggested contesting the same if the matter is to be decided on merits..In September last year, the CAT had held Pracha guilty of contempt, but let him off with a severe warning. The Principal Bench of the Tribunal took suo motu cognisance of the conduct of Pracha during the hearing of a case of Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi who was on deputation at AIIMS.Chaturvedi had filed different applications with regard to recording of his Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), it said."From the various developments that took in this case, what we gather is that the attempt was more to add to the personality of the applicant and his counsel i.e., the respondent herein, and for that purpose, the tribunal became easy target," the CAT had said in its order..[Read judgment].Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Banerjee with advocates Shruti Agarwal, and Shivam Singhania represented the respondents. [Read our live coverage of the hearing here]