The Supreme Court today stayed the contempt proceedings initiated by the Kerala High Court against suspended IPS officer Jacob Thomas for his alleged remarks against two high court judges in his complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, while staying the March 20 order of the high court, posted the matter for final arguments after four weeks.
"List the matter for final arguments after four weeks. In the meantime, the impugned order is stayed," the bench noted in its order.
The High Court had initiated suo motu (on its own) contempt proceedings against Thomas, the former Vigilance Director, for his alleged remarks against two judges of the court.
During the hearing, the apex court observed that the judiciary should not be so "touchy" to initiate contempt proceedings against people for taking the name of a judge in the complaint when there was no allegation made against him.
The petitioner before the high court had alleged that Thomas had made contemptuous personal remarks against the two judges in a complaint to the CVC.
Thomas had made imputations against the judges who had passed orders against him in a case, the petitioner alleged.
The Kerala government had suspended Thomas, the senior-most IPS officer in the state cadre, from service in December last year for his alleged "anti-government" remarks. He was placed under suspension when he was serving as the director of the Institute of Management in Government (IMG).
Earlier, Thomas was removed from the position of the chief of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.
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